Another Colorado location of Alamo Drafthouse is unionizing; organizers allege firings

Another location of the Alamo Drafthouse movie theater chain in Colorado is unionizing and union organizers allege the company fired supervisors after asking them to spy on organizers.

The Littleton location of the theater chain announced it was forming a union, just a few months after the Westminster location announced it would unionize.

"The Alamo Collective Organizing Committee-CWA at the Littleton cinema expresses profound disappointment following the recent announcement of layoffs affecting four supervisors within our ranks," the union said in a statement. "Alamo Drafthouse corporate cited a new policy as the rationale for these layoffs, a policy that was implemented without prior communication to employees and which has never been announced to the workforce."

The union seeks to include 87 full-time and part-time employees, according to records from the National Labor Relations Board, the government agency that oversees labor disputes and unionization issues.

"Once again, Alamo Drafthouse has covertly introduced policies not aimed at enhancing workplace conditions but rather at discouraging union organizing efforts and facilitating the dismissal of union supporters," union organizers in Littleton continued. "This action has targeted supervisors who have shown support for our union or who have failed to adhere to corporate directives to unlawfully surveil employees."

Joseph Mitchell, an organizer of the union drive in Littleton, has been a server at that location since July 2022.

He says an organizer was fired in December and one of the managers fired last week was written up for refusing to the already-fired organizer to corporate prior to their firing. Two of those four managers had worked for the company for about 10 years with few if any previous write-ups or disciplinary action against them, Mitchell said.

The organizers' initial efforts were prompted by poor working conditions and stagnating wages in light of the money the company made from the "Barbenheimer" screenings last year.

Mitchell went on to say that it was becoming increasingly hard to get full-time benefits because of scheduling practices that he says corporate implemented with the intention of keeping those benefits from workers. Since the firings, he says the company has posted job listings offering higher pay to new hires than to established workers.

The ultimate goal is to give employees a say over their workplace," he told CBS News Colorado. "Since Alamo went corporate, it lost a lot of its local theater charm. We hope to go back to that."

The union's next step is an election.

"We've been really disappointed with the way they've treated us," Mitchell said. "We look forward to bargaining with Alamo and finally having a say in our working conditions."

The Texas-based dine-in theater chain said in 2021 that it filed for bankruptcy and entered a restructuring agreement due to financial woes it experienced during the pandemic.

Workers at Alamo Drafthouse cinemas in California, New York and Texas voted to unionize over the past year and, since 2016, 11 unfair labor practice cases were filed with the NLRB against the company in those states.

The company did not respond to multiple emails seeking comment, but in January, a spokesman said the company "is dedicated to the well-being and prosperity of our teammates" and that employees made "well above national averages for their industry."