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Brixton Ritzy staff in pay dispute for London Living Wage with Picturehouse Cinemas

aka said:
If i get a bit of time I'll chew on their accounts to see if there is anything of interest....
CINEWORLD GROUP PLC - Filing history (free information from Companies House)
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Good thinking. The PLC also means you could buy a share or shares in the company and be entitled to attend the AGM and ask questions.
Or even demonstrate. http://www.hl.co.uk/shares/shares-search-results/c/cineworld-group-plc-ordinary-1p

Not sure that this would work in the Ritzy's case - as the Cineworld directors might consider giving ground at the Ritzy would be giving ground to all Cineworld sites everywhere.

It did work for me in one instance. I used to live in Effra Court which was owned and managed by Freshwater Group (Daejan Holdings plc) in the early 1980s. Our lift had been kaput for months - so I invited myself to the AGM equiped with 100 shares. Mt Barry Freshwater was very accomodating over a can of Freshwater Heineken at the end of the meeting - and the lift was fixed in days.

You never know until you try.
 
editor said:
It took place at lunchtime and the streets around the cinema were as packed as usual, yet barely a soul turned up to support them. It's quite depressing.
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But not everyone who lives in Brixton works (or not works) in Brixton?
 
editor said:
The point being that their fight is a fight for all low paid workers.
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Is that the point? That doesn't come across at all.

The demos I've seen/read about so far seems very focused on just their employers. That is fine - they have a justifiable grievance against a profitable big company who have benefitted from a building that public money was spent on -so as I said I wish them well. I would urge every low paid employee of profitable companies to do the same.

Besides like many other locals I didn't know when this was happening (I assumed they must be doing something by the blank board) Details weren't even posted on this thread. And besides I was at work earning a pittance.
 
I can imagine the conversation: excuse me boss, can I have some unpaid time off to campaign about forcing capitalist pigdogs like yourself to pay staff more?
 
If I havent made the point with enough clarity for you, I apologise; but there is no need to get grumpy.
 
SpamMisery said:
If I havent made the point with enough clarity for you, I apologise; but there is no need to get grumpy.
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There is every need to be grumpy? About low pay. About the govt rebranding the minimum wage 'a living wage'. About the severe curtailment of union rights. About growing inequality. About the selling of public property. About blaming the poor for everything. As if being menopausal and heading for brexit wasn't bad enough. Of course I'm fucking grumpy.

What are you so cheerful about?
 
friendofdorothy said:
Is that the point? That doesn't come across at all.

The demos I've seen/read about so far seems very focused on just their employers. That is fine - they have a justifiable grievance against a profitable big company who have benefitted from a building that public money was spent on -so as I said I wish them well. I would urge every low paid employee of profitable companies to do the same.

Besides like many other locals I didn't know when this was happening (I assumed they must be doing something by the blank board) Details weren't even posted on this thread. And besides I was at work earning a pittance.
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I posted it on Buzz twice and there's links to their wider arguments about the living wage in those articles. I haven't got time to post everything here, but Buzz is usually a good place to look.
 
Ritzy on strike today. Looks like tomorrow as well as sign from Picturehouse saying cinema will be open on Monday.

This evening. Raining.

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Decent piece in Vice, of all places.

A spokesperson for Picturehouse told me, "Our staff are hugely important to us, we pay fair wages and have a wide range of benefits within a good working environment. Increases in pay for front of house people in Picturehouse Cinemas have far outstripped inflation over the last three years."

The obvious question, then, is how badly paid were Picturehouse workers before those three years of far-above inflation increases if they're still paid less than the living wage?

"I think what we've shown is that people in low paid, precarious jobs can get organised, and should," said Kelly. "When we were in our negotiation meetings a few months ago they said, at times, they've wanted to put our hours down and they haven't because, in their words, 'You won't let us.'"

With the strike spreading to Hackney Picturehouse – where staff are paid even less, at £8.77 per hour – the idea seems to be catching on.
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It's 'Living Wage Week' and Workers Are Still Fighting for an Incredibly Basic Level of Pay | VICE | United Kingdom

Once again, I felt it hard not to be disappointed by the lack of support from Brixtonites.
 
OK, so can you tell me please exactly what you want us to do to support this?
I was working Monday night. I see from their Facebook page they have a fundraiser event at the windmill on 23 Nov, but other than that .....?

Is there a call to action?
Should cinema goers boycott Ritzy completely? Email/write/tweet cineworld?
Do something social media-ey ( not that I have any social media)

????
 
sparkybird said:
OK, so can you tell me please exactly what you want us to do to support this?
I was working Monday night. I see from their Facebook page they have a fundraiser event at the windmill on 23 Nov, but other than that .....?

Is there a call to action?
Should cinema goers boycott Ritzy completely? Email/write/tweet cineworld?
Do something social media-ey ( not that I have any social media)

????
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I think a boycott is reasonable
 
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