Workers at Picturehouse Cinema's flagship "Picturehouse Central" location, near London's Piccadilly Circus, are balloting for strikes, as part of a growing dispute which also involves workers at Picturehouse's Brixton and Hackney sites.
The ballot, which closes on 4 January, is for joint strikes to demand the London living wage, decent sick pay, and other improvements to workers' terms and conditions.
Workers at the Hackney Picturehouse strike for five days between 16-21 December, and for an additional day on 23 December. Workers at the Ritzy Picturehouse in Brixton struck on 16 December.
Picturehouse bosses managed to keep the cinemas open by paying managers from Picturehouse locations in Cambridge, Oxford, and elsewhere to cover shifts, including providing hotel accommodation for them. They have also attempted to bully workers by threatening legal proceedings against union reps for their alleged conduct on picket lines.
Bectu activists told Solidarity that spreading the dispute to other Picturehouse sites will be key to victory. Workers at cinemas in Crouch End and East Dulwich may soon begin their own ballots for strikes.
Benefit gigs for the workers' strike fund are planned in Crouch End on 13 January and Hackney on 18 January.
Donate to the strike fund here.
