Union Wins Landslide Victory - Shattuck Cinema Workers Pull Through with Vote for The IWW

north america / mexico | workplace struggles | news report Saturday June 17, 2006 15:35 by Steve Ongerth - IWW intexile at iww dot org 510-459-6586

This afternoon workers at Landmark Shattuck Cinemas voted an outstanding 22 to 2 in favor of unionization.

BERKELEY 6:30 PM -- This afternoon workers at Landmark Shattuck Cinemas voted an outstanding 22 to 2 in favor of unionization. Despite new promises by Landmark and an attempt by CEO Bill Banowsky to thwart the union attempt, workers at the Shattuck say they've never really been worried about the vote.

"I've felt extremely confidant that the union would go through since the beginning." said Ryan Hatt, cinema employee age 21. "Support has been almost unanimous since day one. There was no contest, if you would have asked me two months ago I could've guaranteed a landslide victory."

Now that the vote has gone through, workers are looking ahead to the contract negotiation process. Contract negotiations at Kendall Square Cinemas in Cambridge, MA, the only other Landmark theatre to hold a union, have been moving extremely slowly with Landmark officials meeting only the bare minimum requirements to keep the negotiations process "in good faith" over the last year.

"We knew all along that the negotiations process would be the difficult part," said Rachel Amberg, cinema employee age 18. "But we're ready to do whatever it takes to make sure Landmark doesn't jam the gears. If Landmark was really interested in "good faith" negotiations, we could get the whole process taken care of in under a month."

Though the struggle may not be over, workers at the Shattuck are looking with high hopes towards the future, and with massive support from the citizens of Berkeley and a landslide victory now behind them, that future looks bright indeed.

"We couldn't have made it without the Berkeley community." Said Jason Ramsey. "They've been very supportive the whole way through and we just can't thank them enough for it. It's good to know they have our backs."

Contact: Organizer, Harjit Gill - (415)374-5711 or harjit@iww.org