Ritzy cinema workers begin a five-day period of strikes today (17 November)
Strike times are:
Thursday 17: 10pm-6am Friday
Friday 18: 4pm-9pm
Saturday 19: Noon until closing.
Sunday 20: 3pm-6.30pm
Monday 21: 6pm-9pm
The strikes will highlight the workers’ campaign for the London Living Wage and will coincide with planned screenings of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Picket lines will be Harry Potter themed and will include a large dragon puppet wrapping itself around the tree in Windrush Square.
Children and adults will be invited to write down why the living wage is so important and stick it on the dragon for others to see.
Hackney Picturehouse staff will also be striking on 18, 19th and 20th November. Both groups of strikers will hold a demonstration in front of Picturehouse Central (Corner of Shaftesbury Avenue and Great Windmill Street, Piccadilly W1D 7DH) on Saturday 19 November from 5pm.
Kiv Legate, from the Ritzy cinema, said: “This year’s strike has now been going on for over six weeks with five strike days to date. Picturehouse strikers from the Ritzy Cinema and Hackney Picturehouse, along with our union Bectu are being ignored by management, leaving workers with no alternative option but to intensify our action.”
Kelly Rogers, also from the Ritzy, said: “We went on strike two years ago over pay, and we’re out again because we’re still being paid poverty wages.
“Many of us pay up to 75% of our income on rent. No one should have to choose between making rent or having time off when sick.
“No one should have to live on less than £140 a week when on maternity leave. We all deserve better.”
We should boycott such businesses until the workers’ demands are met.