Striking Alamo Drafthouse Workers in New York City Will Bring Their Picketing to Sony HQ
Six days into their strike, the NYC Alamo United union, which includes staffers at the Alamo Drafthouse’s lower Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn locations, is planning on bringing their protests straight to the theater chain’s new parent company, Sony Pictures Entertainment.
IndieWire has learned that on Wednesday, February 19, Brooklyn and Manhattan strikers are planning to start their day picketing outside Sony’s Manhattan offices, located at 25 Madison Ave. In the afternoon, the groups plan to split up and head to their respective workplace locations to continue picketing at the company’s lower Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn locations simultaneously.
More from IndieWire
The NYC Alamo United group (which is part of the United Auto Workers Local 2179, which represents staffers at those two NYC locations) has been picketing outside both the lower Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn locations since they called the strike on February 14.
Official representatives from NYC Alamo United shared with IndieWire they are “on strike to demand that Alamo and Sony come to the table and bargain in good faith over our contract, the layoffs, staff shortages, and other effects. Alamo must consider the lives of their workers and treat them with fairness, dignity, and respect. The ball is in their court.”
Alamo United represents two of just three Alamo locations that are organized with a labor union, the other being in Colorado. All three unionized Alamo Drafthouses — out of 42 theaters nationwide — are now on strike and participating in work stoppages, though the theaters remain operational.
The unionized Colorado location, in Sloans Lake, voted on February 5 and 6 to greenlight the potential work stoppage, and officially authorized their own strike on February 11. The Hollywood Reporter reports that the Colorado union also walked out on February 14, just hours before the Manhattan and Brooklyn locations joined them.
Additionally, on Monday, February 3, UAW Local 2179 filed a formal complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against Alamo Drafthouse and parent company Sony Pictures Entertainment, citing Refusal to Furnish Information and Refusal to Bargain/Bad Faith Bargaining.
In a post on X, the union said 70 workers were laid off in Brooklyn and Manhattan and that the layoffs are “illegal” and an “unnecessary firing” of the staff. The union believes the firings have no financial purpose and were made in bad faith in midst of negotiating the union’s first contract. The employees formally unionized in October 2023.
An insider told IndieWire that the cuts made to the NYC staff were part of the previously reported layoffs to both seasonal venue staff and the 9 percent of Alamo’s corporate staff (approximately 15 employees on the corporate level), but that the NYC layoffs were delayed while the company argued in good faith with the union. Employees who have been let go have been informed they can apply again closer to the summer box office rush.
An insider close to the company told IndieWire on Tuesday that all layoff decisions were made by Alamo Drafthouse, not by parent company Sony Pictures Entertainment.
IndieWire has reached out to representatives for both Sony and Alamo Drafthouse for further comment.
Best of IndieWire
Sign up for Indiewire's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Solve the daily Crossword
