Landmark Theaters Employee Union

 Quality of Film Drops in the Meantime...

"Last weekend, employees of the Landmark-owned movie theatres were required to view anti-union videos, described by Uptown Theatre employee Eric Steil as “a union version of the 1930’s propaganda film Reefer Madness.” The videos are just a part of the response being coordinated by the West coast based firm Labor Relations Solutions, hired by Landmark Theatres to help them fight against their employees unionizing efforts. "
Workers of the Uptown Theatre, Lagoon Cinema, and Edina Cinema have been joking amongst themselves recently that the quality of films being shown at the three theatres is declining. Last weekend, employees of the Landmark-owned movie theatres were required to view anti-union videos, described by Uptown Theatre employee Eric Steil as “a union version of the 1930’s propaganda film Reefer Madness.” The videos are just a part of the response being coordinated by the West coast based firm Labor Relations Solutions, hired by Landmark Theatres to help them fight against their employees unionizing efforts.

On April 14th, workers at all three of Landmark Theatre’s Twin Cities movie theatres filed a petition for a Union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Today, the NLRB certified the petition and set May 26 as the election date. “I’m excited to vote,” said Emily Davis, an employee of the Lagoon Theatre. “I love independent film and I see this campaign as a way to help preserve it. It’s ridiculous that a company which claims to be dedicated to supporting independent artists won’t pay its employees, many of whom work there precisely because of their dedication to film, a living wage.”

Landmark Theatres is the nation’s largest art-house chain. If workers opt for UFCW representation in the coming election, the three Twin Cities theatres will be the first wall-to-wall unionized movie theatres in the country. It is for these reasons that Jake Baxter, an organizer for UFCW Local 789, believes that, “This campaign has a huge amount of national significance, both for workers and movie lovers.”

With this in mind, Landmark’s workers intend to seek support from the movie-going public throughout their organizing campaign. “We showed up for the closing movie of the International Film Festival and handed out almost 400 fliers in just half an hour,” recounted Edina Cinema worker Adam Marquardt. “The support from the people there was incredible. We love films and so do they, so there’s a bond there between us and our customers. We all want to save independent film and protect the people who promote it. That, essentially, is what this election is about.” In an effort to both build and demonstrate community support, off-duty employees will be out in front of the Uptown Theatre on weekend nights, gathering signatures and answering people’s questions about the campaign. Workers also encourage their supporters to write letters to the Landmark corporation and voice their support for the workers when they visit the theatre.

by Joel Haskard

http://www.pulsetc.com/article.php?sid=1054

Workers at all three of Landmark Theatre’s Twin Cities movie theaters recently filed a petition for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board. Employees of the Lagoon Cinema, Uptown Theatre and Edina Cinema have petitioned to join the United Food & Commercial Workers Union Local 789 of South St. Paul, Minn. If successful, these workers will create the first wall to wall unionized movie theater in the State of Minnesota (some projectionists are currently unionized).

Workers, many of whom live in Minneapolis, site recent cutbacks in hours and unpredictable scheduling, plus a $6.80/hr wage cap as their main grievances. Landmark Theatres also doesn’t currently offer full-time positions to any of its regular local employees.

“We love our jobs.  We love movies.  We like the people we work with.  We just want to be able keep our jobs, pay our rent and be appreciated for what we contribute,” Lagoon Cinema worker Emily Davis explained.

In September of 2003 Landmark Theatres was purchased by 2929 Entertainment Company which is co-owned by Dallas Maverick’s owner, Mark Cuban.  Landmark Theatres Corporation was founded in 1974 and operates 57 theaters with 204 screens in 14 states across the United States.

“A lot of the employees have been here for years,” Uptown Theatre employee Dan Schneidkraut said. “We have a great relationship with the community. I guess when you come to the theaters it seems like a real progressive place, but it has gotten really far away from that. It’s kinda like the movie ‘Office Space’ now.”

The human resource manager at Landmark Theatre corporate headquarters was contacted and refused to comment for this article.
If UFCW Local 789 seems familiar to Pulse readers, it may be that they are the same organization that worked with the Borders in Uptown to successfully unionize. When asked why the Landmark workers wanted to form a union, Schneidkraut stated, “Our growling stomachs and empty bank accounts.  Aside from that, the recent actions by both the transit workers union and Borders Bookstore employees definitely provided some inspiration.  It takes a lot of courage to do what they did and it made us feel guilty about sitting around and complaining about our situation when there are laws and organizations that exist solely to prevent our kind of predicament.”

“We have petitions that will be out all over town, and we will be asking for signatures outside of the theaters on busy nights,” Schneidkraut added.  “Sign the hell out of those things, spread the word to everyone you know and talk to us.  Ask us questions.  We need to know that people support us because what we are doing has never really been done before and we don’t want to get discouraged.  Just beginning this process has helped our morale more than I could have imagined.  We need the community to keep our spirits up during what is going to be a very arduous process.”

April 15, 2004

Landmark Theatre's Uptown Theatre Workers poised to take on Texas basketball mogul.

On Wednesday, April 14th the workers at all three of Landmark Theatre's Twin Cities movie theatres filed a petition for a Union election with the National Labor Relations Board. Employees of the popular "art-house" theatres, the Edina Cinema in Edina, MN and the Lagoon Cinema and the Uptown Theatre in Minneapolis, MN, have petitioned to join the United Food & Commercial Workers Union Local 789 of South St. Paul, MN. If successful, these workers will create the first unionized movie theatre in the State of Minnesota.

"We love our jobs. We love movies. We like the people we work with. We just want to be able keep our jobs, pay our rent, and be appreciated for what we contribute," Lagoon Cinema worker Emily Davis explained. Landmark Theatres doesn't offer full-time positions to any of its regular local employees. Recent cutbacks in hours and unpredictable scheduling have created problems for Landmark's workers, most of whom live in the City of Minneapolis. With a $6.80/hr wage cap at the Lagoon Cinema and Uptown Theatre, many workers hold two, sometimes three jobs in order to remain self-sufficient.

Nine-year employee, Sybil Smith explains, "I'm really proud of what we're building here. Sometimes workers like us are just invisible. We appreciate our customers. We like the same movies they do. We hope they'll support us as we try to protect our jobs." Landmark's workers and the UFCW Local 789 intend to take this case to the movie-going public throughout the organizing campaign.