Dozens of workers at the Westminster location of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema chain are planning to unionize to combat what they allege are dangerous working conditions, low pay amid record profits, and firings related to union action and HR complaints, leaders said Tuesday.
Employees will rally outside the six-year-old Sloans Lake location, at 4255 W. Colfax Ave., at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 2, to bring attention to the cause, said former Alamo Drafthouse employee Ian Miller, who’s helping lead the union drive. About 60% of Westminster’s 109 employees who were formally polled have already said they’d get behind the drive, according to Miller. A Sloan’s Lake poll of that location’s 99 employees is next.
The drive covers both front-of-house workers such as bartenders and ticket sellers as well as kitchen staff, according to a statement announcing the rally. The potential union would be organized under the umbrella of the Communications Workers of America.
“We’ve had complaints and discussions about unionizing at both stores for over a year now, and unfortunately three of those folks have been fired,” Miller told The Denver Post, naming the employees as himself, Jet Magetti, and Maggie Werhane.
“Our corporate leaders and management have been deeply abusive, incompetent, and negligent for a long time and this has resulted in the majority of us demanding we have a say about our working conditions through unionizing,” Magetti said in a statement. “We are holding this rally to highlight and demand an end to this abuse and bring awareness to the struggles we face at the cinema.”
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema filed for bankruptcy in March 2021, citing COVID-19 difficulties. That action resulted in more corporate control of the hybrid franchise/corporate-owned company, leading to fewer franchisees, Miller said. The Austin, Texas-based company now counts 44 locations nationwide, as compared with 41 at the time of its bankruptcy filing.
“After it became a much more corporate entity a lot of autonomy was stripped away from the stores, and the working conditions continue to get worse and worse,” Miller said.
Alamo Drafthouse representatives said in a late-Tuesday statement that the company is “dedicated to the well-being and prosperity of our teammates in our goal to be the best damn cinema that has ever or will ever exist. …”
“Nationwide in 2023, our hourly teammates earned well above national averages for their industry and in comparison with our comparators,” the company wrote. “We review compensation data several times throughout the year and make adjustments as needed. Additionally we offer teammates best-in-class fringe benefits as well as many other perks.”
Union leaders delivered their first round of demands to ownership on Dec. 31, 2023. Miller said the complaints and union drive do not include Alamo’s Littleton location, which opened in 2013. The newest location, in Westminster, opened in 2019.
An email sent to employees on July 16, 2023, and attributed to Alamo CEO Shelli Taylor and president Michael Kustermann, boasted of record profits at the chain, thanks to the Barbenheimer box-office phenom of 2023 — a.k.a. the dual-opening of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” which led to record revenue for exhibitors nationwide.
“We served over 304,000 guests which is by far the most guests served in one weekend in our post-pandemic world,” they wrote in the email. “… This was the 4th highest grossing weekend for our industry. That’s not a post-pandemic record…that’s an ALL TIME high for any year in the cinema biz.”
An internal communication reviewed by The Denver Post also promised “market wage adjustments” in January of this year “to ensure that our wages are competitive.”
That doesn’t line up with the low employee pay, Denver resident Miller said, which makes it near impossible for workers to afford the costs of living in the metro area. Miller called the employee abuse he’s seen “heinous” and also alleged instances of sexual misconduct.
“There were many HR complaints filed and nothing was ever done about any of these issues,” he said,” Miller said. “It is clear (a union) is the only way to engage with the corporate powers.”
In response, company officials wrote: “We take seriously allegations of sexual harassment and abuse. We have a zero tolerance policy for sexual harassment and abuse of any kind as detailed in our Code of Conduct policy that is publicly posted at all venues. All allegations and complaints are investigated thoroughly with appropriate discipline, up to and including termination.”
Some Alamo Drafthouse employees at locations in New York, California and Texas have also worked to organize for labor rights, and the nascent Denver union has been in touch with a Brooklyn location on their union drive, Miller said.
