Alamo Drafthouse Colorado Staffers Strike Over ‘Unjust’ Layoffs, Sony’s ‘Corporate Betrayal’

Unionized employees at a Colorado Alamo Drafthouse made good on threats made earlier this week by walking out on strike.

The Alamo Drafthouse’s Sloan Lake location walked out after threats made to do so in protest of a number of recent “unjust” layoffs. The employees are unionized through Communications Workers of America Local 7777 and plan to stay on strike until further notice.

“This is not the Alamo Drafthouse we have supported and built over the years. This is Sony, their new corporate owner pulling the strings, attempting to silence our collective voice and strip us of our power. But we refuse to be silent, and we refuse to be powerless,” Union Bargaining Committee Member Josh Reitze said in a statement.

The statement continued by stating the Alamo Drafthouse dealt with seasonal slowdowns in previous years with fluctuating hours. The unionized employees are also placing blame on Sony for cutting coworkers at three Colorado locations despite not needing to.

“The company’s own financial data contradicts the need for these layoffs,” Claude Grossi, Union Bargaining Committee Member, added. “Their outlook is optimistic, and box office projections show significant industry growth. This is not about economic hardships it’s about corporate interests overtaking worker rights.”

Reitze told TheWrap earlier that news of the layoffs came as a sizable shock to the affected employees. Many of them learned their fate through media reports and on the Alamo Drafthouse Reddit page.

“I’ve worked in theaters since 2013, and the sort of layoffs Alamo is doing are fairly unprecedented,” Reitze told TheWrap. “I’ve never seen these kind of across-the-board layoffs.”

More to come…

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