Alamo Drafthouse hit with unfair labor practice after laying off 70 staffers

The Alamo Drafthouse employees have some of the most physically demanding jobs in theatrical exhibition. Crouched down in a manner that would murder a lesser back, the brave Alamo Drafters deliver sizzling baskets of fried cauliflower and specialty cocktails to theatergoers without interrupting the movie. What do they get for their efforts? Another round of layoffs.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, two New York Alamo Drafthouse locations were hit with unfair labor practice complaints after the Sony-owned theater chain carried through with 70 layoffs amid union bargaining. Variety reports 40 workers from its Brooklyn location and 30 from Manhattan. The company has not commented on the layoffs, but both trades say sources blamed regular seasonal slowdowns for the cuts. The company already subjected employees to a round of layoffs earlier this year.

However, representing the Drafthouse union, United Auto Workers Local 2179 accused the company of failing or refusing to bargain in good faith, prompting the filing of an unfair labor practice with the National Labor Relations Board. Labor law obliges, but clearly doesn't require, the company to negotiate layoffs with the union because both parties were still bargaining. According to THR, management declared an impasse with the union after bargaining on Friday. UAW sees it differently.

"Impasse indicates that the parties have nothing to bargain further on and can't move on anything," UAW Local 2178 second vice president Will Bobrowski told The Hollywood Reporter. "There are dozens of articles, basically most of a contract, still on the table, in motion, back and forth. So there's plenty to bargain about."

Since the union won recognition in 2023, Bobrowski said, this was "the first time that we had a blatant flagrant stepping over the line beyond what the law allows." He and the union have already begun leafletting and picketing at the locations. "We will fight corporate greed until victory."