Shattuck Cinema Workers Rally for Union
Submitted on Sat, 06/17/2006 - 12:48am
Shattuck union workers brought their campaign for union recognition to the streets of Berkeley on Wednesday afternoon. About sixty people including many Shattuck workers gathered in front of the theatre to wave signs, hold banners, sing, shout play guitar and fiddle. The message was clear, "we are union and we want changes now". Aurelaea River, a long time Shattuck Cinemas worker brought aong her electric violin and got the proceedings under way by playing a fast tune. Then Ryan from Riot Folk played guitar and sang to get the crowd together.
Next came Ryan Hatt, one of the workers, to list what the workers demands are. A living wage, health care coverage, corporate accountibility, and respect. And a door chair. workers stand for long periods taking tickets. They had a chair but corpoate didn't approve. Chair gone. Then a meeting took place a couple of weeks back with the CEO. He came to explain what a union is. He wasn't quite sure what a union is after showing up an hour late. But the chair reappeared. Only to dissapear a few hours later. Rumor has it that management thought the union might claim the re issuance of the chair as a victory. The chair is stashed away for now.
Back to the rally. After Ryan came Kris Worthington from the Berkeley city council. He talked about the need to support the workers at the Shattuck. He reminded everyone that there have been many tough union organizing drives in Berkeley. And that this one is not over until the workers get a fair deal. Aurelea not only fiddled, she spoke on the subject of Landmarks' supposed progressive values which are upheld by the workers not the company The fact that Landmark Theatres shows pro union movies when management is anti union betrays the progressive image that Landmark attempts to maintain.
Finally Harjit Gill, IWW organizer, told everyone that we are going to bargain hard for a fair deal. The workers need community support to keep pressure on Landmark Theatres Corporation. He pointed out that if the company wanted to they could wrap up a contract in a few hours. But they continue to spread the myth that it could take months. There are several reasons why the bosses talk this utter rubbish. One is because they can. It is what the law allows.
Now it's Thursday morning and at their union meeting the workers discuss the emergency staff meeting scheduled for eleven-thirty. Is this a last ditch effort to convince the workers to reject their union? Most likely, but anything is possible. Guess what. The workers were asked to reject the union. They were also told that negotiations could take months. The workers replyed that they were ready to negotiate and they figured a fair agreement could be reached by the end of the weekend. The company went to call their lawyer. The rally ended on a high note, literally with more songs, guitar and fiddle.
Shattuckunion workers vote Friday for the union.