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IWW Shattuckunion Preparing for Contract Push

Workers at all Landmark Theaters in California were recently given a $.75 an hour raise.  This comes on top of the raise that workers received several months ago. Which occured shortly after the union election victory.

The previous raise was nationwide.  The recent raise to California employees is connected to the minimum wage or so Landmark Theater Co. says.   Whether or not the recent raise is connected to the minimum wage is debatable.  Most likely it is connected to the presence of a union at the Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley. 

Further evidence of the company doling out raises and benefits to keep more workers from going union is a health care plan that is now available to some workers.  Also holiday pay was restored to all shifts on Christmas and New Year after a one year absence.  As contract negotiations drag on in Berkeley, the company continues to come up with money they claimed they didn’t have.  Keeping the rest of their theaters union free is the likely reason for this. 

All Shattuck workers have now received between $1.50 and $2.00 per hour in the last several months by way of wage increases.  This after previously getting $.03 raises based on performance.  That’s right 3 cents. Additionally, starting wage at the Shattuck is now $8 up from $ 7.25.

One challenge we face is high turnover in service sector jobs like the Shattuck.  Workers who have been through the union struggle from the beginning need to educate recent hires on the benefits of a union and the IWW.  New hires also have opportunities to attend organizing meetings and intro to the IWW classes.  Not surprisingly most new hires at the Shattuck are for the union once they hear about the gains the workers have made.

Community support remains an important part of the campaign at the Shattuck.  On Dec. 22 a group of elves appeared in front of the theater with colorful leaflets explaining the union organizing campaign to customers and passerby.   In November IWW members in seven cities from DC to LA handed out leaflets at Landmark Cinemas.  A number of workers also were interested in taking a leaflet.

The contract committee at the Shattuck have suggested a date by which they think contract negotiations should wrap up. Sooner rather than later. The proposed date will be presented to the entire crew at the next general meeting of the Shattuckunion.  Most likely it will be necessary to escalate our activities to let Landmark know we are not going away and that dragging things out is not ok.