For the last 14 days, Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan Alamo Drafthouse employees—unionized as NYC Alamo United—have been on strike, picketing outside both locations and Sony Headquarters, the theater’s parent company. The protest comes in response to the dine-in cinema’s decision to lay off 70 workers (30 at the Manhattan location and 40 at the Brooklyn location) amid the union negotiating its first contract, a direct violation of the status quo and labor laws.
Following understaffing issues during the Barbenheimer phenomenon in 2023, New York City Alamo employees unionized with UAW Local 2179. “People were frazzled and losing it,” Adam Bernstein, a concierge worker employed at the Lower Manhattan Alamo for three years, recalled to The Pace Press. “We had a few people quit at that time. That sparked the union.” Despite being unionized since Oct. 2023, theater workers are still bargaining for a contract.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Alamo employees were let go as part of a “restructuring” effort on the corporate side. Bernstein shared that the Alamo Drafthouse stated the layoffs were a decision made by the theater company itself, not Sony, and was in no way driven by finances. Despite the success of recent horror releases like “Companion” and “The Monkey,” as well as upcoming installments in the “Captain America” and “Paddington” franchise, the company cited a “historically slow first quarter for films.”
“Sony says [the layoffs] are not brought on by them, but we’re calling their bluff,” Bernstein told The Pace Press. “None of us believe that they’re not involved in some way. Because this is not the slowest quarter that I’ve been around.”
Before the employee walkout on Feb. 14, the Union Committee met once again with Alamo higher-ups to pitch a final agreement regarding the layoffs and a contract, in which Bernstein was in attendance. “I would describe it as a little disenfranchising, just how quickly they said no…without hesitation,” he shared. “The [general managers] of both locations were in the room as well, and they knew what was coming next.”
When asked about his hopes for the strike’s outcome, Bernstein emphasized the need for the theater chain to reconnect with its arthouse cinema roots rather than following the trends of megaplex cinemas like AMC or Regal. “It’s gone a little too heavy on this corporate side, and it’s losing the luster that used to have, the passion for the films, the passion for the people who make these movies and love these movies,” he said. “Somehow they got lost along the way for…popcorn buckets and merchandise and streamlined locations that are all cookie cutter versions of each other.”
As the strike continues, multiple events at the luxury cinema have been canceled, including the upcoming live stream of Tim Heidecker and Gregg Turkington’s “On Cinema at the Cinema” Oscar coverage. Currently, the theater is capping ticket sales early and only serving candy and soda to patrons still attending showings.
Alamo employees are calling on New York City film fans to boycott the Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan locations, cancel monthly season pass subscriptions and join them on the picket line. The unionized workers continue to post their upcoming picketing schedules on Instagram, and their efforts are gaining more traction each day. On the NYC Alamo United Beacons page, the union lists multiple funds to support wrongfully terminated employees and letter campaigns to be sent to corporate.
