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

ska invita said:
The two main jobs i've had in the last 6 years, neither could, or can now, pay it. They would both have to close and i'd be out of a job. They can pay more than min wage though. I'd love them to pay more, but we can't afford it. And thats true for lots of small businesses.
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What evidence did your previous employers produce to show you higher pay would mean they would close?

Small business types always say they cannot pay more in my experience.

They compete with each other. Which means they drive down costs. Then they tell you they cannot pay that much.
 
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From the Ritzy FB page this photo of this weeks issue of Time Out.

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If profit making companies (Cineworld makes over £30 billion) don't pay their staff a wage that they can afford to live on - we all pay as tax payers.. This Govt loves to talk about benefit scroungers - but negects to say big profitable businesses use the benefit system to subsidise their payroll in this way with tax credits/ working benefits for their workers - it is an outrage!

Years ago I used to have a very small business employing a few people - this was before min wage was introduced - but even I could afford to pay cleaner and admin staff quite a bit more than the minimum that came in a few years later. I realise that many small business struggle - but the Ritzy is not small or struggling. Neither is Tecos, or Amazon.

I now work for less for LLW in the care sector for a charity (long story.) My co workers, many of whom are on minimum wage, are struggling especially with the cost of housing in London, with benefits often making up the difference. I believe my employers when they say they can't pay us more - cash from local authority funding for care cost was frozen for several years - as were our wages, so all the wages here have got closer to minimum each year.
 
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Dexter Deadwood said:
Brilliant writer, journalist and Brixton local Will Self joined us on our picket lines during our last strike date. He really hit the nail on the head when it comes to low pay and the ‪#‎Solidarity‬ from the local community in Brixton.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=453415331461514&id=356850264451355

Via @RitzyLivingWage @bectu
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Particularly good point he made about the difference between the form of appearance and the actual social relation.

"all the mystifications of the capitalist mode of production...have as their basis the form of appearance..which makes the actual relation invisible."

(Marx, Capital Volume 1)
 
Statement from BECTU

Big business, small wages
In 2012 the Picturehouse chain was bought by Cineworld in a deal worth more than £47m which reportedly made senior executives substantial sums of money. This tie-up was followed soon after, in January 2014, by the merger of Cineworld with Cinema City International which operates venues in Poland, Israel, Hungary, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia.

The Picturehouse chain is reportedly engaged in a substantial expansion programme.

Despite this the company's management is resisting the union's claim and has even asked why part-time staff - who it would appear the company believes have less need of money because they work part-time - are so focused on achieving the London Living Wage. :facepalm:
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Workers at the Ritzy - where 85 per cent of union members voted in support of strike action - have taken three days of strike action this month (April).

On each of the three days management has abandoned any attempt to keep the venue open preferring to lose revenue rather than work to resolve the dispute.

Next week's strike will hit the scheduled live relay of King Lear from the National Theatre.

"We sincerely regret the inconvenience to patrons planning a night out. However we also know that Ritzy customers understand the importance of this campaign and that they want us to succeed," commented BECTU general secretary, Gerry Morrissey.
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Gramsci said:
What evidence did your previous employers produce to show you higher pay would mean they would close?

Small business types always say they cannot pay more in my experience.

They compete with each other. Which means they drive down costs. Then they tell you they cannot pay that much.
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one job was a co-op which i was a "director" of (as were all staff members) and the second, where i am still employed, is under workers control- in both the staff in effect collectively do the accounts and set the wages ourselves. Its no fiddle, i promise you thats as much as can be afforded.
ms invita worked for a long time in a shop as an assistant, but ended up effectively manging it (though still on the assistant wage) - she got to know their accounts intimately too - similar situation there. through those leads ive gotten to know other small business and their situations... its not uncommon.

in all cases the amount of staff employed was less than was needed to do the work, so it wasn't a case of too many staff.
Rent is always the biggest drain, council business rates can also really sting.

I don't want to make big generalisations based on my own experiences but i was just trying to add a bit of shading to the discussion. it is well documented that one effect of this most recent crisis is that people have taken pay cuts rather than lose their jobs - i feel the same way about LLW - id rather have my job than not - though ive tried ive never been able to rise above my paygrade and at least im in work that i enjoy. I also work an occasional cash in hand job to supplement my wage and that is also not LLW, but again i know the situation of my employer and i know he'll pay me as much as he can for the value of the work.

Which is all an aside - great to see this strike still going strong
 
The new merger between Cinema City and Cineworld. "A partial reverse takeover" as the Greidingers , who owned Cinema City have leading role after merger.

Cineworld had been privately held by the Blackstone Group, who bought it in 2004, then took it public with an IPO in 2007, with the company going on the market then at only about half the price which its shares command today. Blackstone then sold their entire interest later in 2010.
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Blackstones "Asset Managers" also known as "Shadow Banking". Shadow Bankers played big role in the recent Banking crisis. They are unregulated. Buying an asset and selling it off is typical Blackstone behaviour.

Cineworld shares closed at US$7.30 per share (445 pence per share) on Friday, on the London Stock Exchange, up 13% on the news of both the acquisition and the rights offering. This is doubly impressive, as both kinds of transaction can sometimes have the opposite effect on a company’s shares. With almost exactly 150 million shares outstanding this now currently values Cineworld itself before the deal closes at over US$1.1 billion (£670 million). Cineworld had been privately held by the Blackstone Group, who bought it in 2004, then took it public with an IPO in 2007, with the company going on the market then at only about half the price which its shares command today. Blackstone then sold their entire interest later in 2010.

48 million shares will be issued by Cineworld under the new rights offering and, in order to give the Cinema City shareholders their 24.9% holding under the deal even after the dilution of the rights offering, a total of 65.5 million shares will be issued to them at closing. Thus once all the dust settles from both transactions there will ultimately then be a total of 263.5 million Cineworld shares outstanding. Hence, if the Cineworld share price continues to hold up at somewhere near its Friday close, the market capitalization of the company’s shares post-acquisition, and post-rights offering, could be as high as about US$1.9 billion (£1.17 billion).
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ska invita said:
. it is well documented that one effect of this most recent crisis is that people have taken pay cuts rather than lose their jobs - i feel the same way about LLW
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Yes I know. Its not good. The Bankers are still awarding themselves big bonuses and the ordinary person is expected to take pay cut. We are not all in it it together.

Pay cut or no job is not a choice.

Employers are not there to look after workers interests.
 
The Albert was packed full of Ritzy workers last night. I'm miffed I missed their picket yesterday - they said that they were joined by striking teachers and they went on a walkabout around Brixton in a show off solidarity. Anyone get any pics?
 
editor said:
The Albert was packed full of Ritzy workers last night. I'm miffed I missed their picket yesterday - they said that they were joined by striking teachers and they went on a walkabout around Brixton in a show off solidarity. Anyone get any pics?
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Have not got pics of the walkabout. But have pics of picket in post#250 u can use if u want.
 

Had no idea about this but ended up at the Hackney Picturehouse earlier -- friend of a friend works at the Ritzy so a few of us locals went along to give our support.

A good number of people there, making a lot of noise. :cool: Apparently the HPH staff had been told they'd be sacked if they went outside/got involved. :mad: Went for a few drinks after and seems the Ritzy lot have been round and about at various venues... Good luck to them. Will be sending a member for years outraged email tomorrow. (Asked and was suggested that was the best thing to do in support at the moment.)
 
Ritzy staff will be on strike this Saturday.

From their FB:

We have confirmed that our next Strike Date will be this Saturday 7th June from 6am to 3am on Sunday 8th June. We will be picketing outside The Ritzy from about 10am and hope to see you there.

We are hugely disappointed by the massive breach of trust with Picturehouse Cinemas this week, who pulled out of peace talks at the last minute and have imposed a pay rise of 29p per hour for most Ritzy Workers that will keep our pay below the poverty line in London.

We had notified them of our strike date this Saturday last week but, in an act of good faith, had not gone public with it pending the negotiations that had been set for today. Picturehouse management have acted completely unreasonably and outrageously in leaving it until the very last minute to cancel our negotiations se we need your help to get the message out.

PLEASE SHARE!!!!
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Statement from BECTU

Looks like they are asking for boycott of the cinema. Will need to ask Ritzy staff if that is want they want.

Industrial action is resumed at Brixton cinema as management cancel peace talks.


BECTU members at the Brixton Ritzy Cinema are now due to go on strike from 6.00 a.m. on Saturday 7th June following a shock decision by management to pull out of talks about the London Living Wage.

BECTU will also be calling on the Trades Union Congress, and unions in the entertainment industry, to organise a boycott among their members of all UK cinemas operated by PictureHouse, which runs the Ritzy.

The management turnaround happened swiftly and unexpectedly. After five days of strike action to win payment of the £8.80 per hour living wage, members at the iconic South London venue were promised talks on Wednesday 4th June, when the operator, PictureHouse, owned by multi-national screen giant Cineworld, was expected to offer the full rate by October 2015.

However, just a day before the planned talks, PictureHouse announced to staff at the Ritzy that the company had cancelled the negotiations with BECTU, and instead of reaching agreement on the living wage of £8.80, would impose a 29p per hour pay increase on basic rates for staff, leaving them on £7.53 an hour.
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