“Forget the Alamo,” say workers of the popular cinema chain Alamo Drafthouse as they continue their strike outside the Brooklyn and Manhattan theaters, protesting the recent layoffs of 70 employees.
The strike, which began on Feb. 14, aims to push the company to reinstate the laid-off workers with back pay and return to the bargaining table to continue contract negotiations for the hourly workers.
Workers picketing outside the Downtown Brooklyn location argued that the layoffs were unnecessary and conducted without negotiating severance, paid time off, or sick leave compensation. Jordan Barouche, a member of the NYC Alamo United bargaining committee, criticized the company’s handling of the layoffs and ongoing staffing issues, which he said have long plagued the chain.
“We expect them to recognize their mistake and talk to us again about how to keep our workers afloat and their business afloat because I don’t think that the business would be doing well, even if we hadn’t gone on strike,” Barouche told Brooklyn Paper. “The official call is for everybody to be reinstated and get their back pay. If they don’t, if they’re not happy with that, they should consider giving us a proposal, calling us back to the table, and seeing if we can end the strike. Because we have to end it together.”
Barouche pointed to last August’s expansion of the Downtown Brooklyn location, which added five new screens but, he said, did not come with an increase in staff.
“It’s totally necessary that we need more bodies, more people,” he said, adding that Alamo cited a seasonal slowdown as the reason for the layoffs.
However, he noted that in previous years, the company had reduced staff hours rather than cutting jobs outright, leaving workers to question the shift since Sony Pictures Entertainment acquired the chain in June 2024.
“They claim that Alamo operates mostly autonomously within the broader Sony umbrella. I can’t speak for that. I’m not in the boardroom meetings, but I will say, having been with the company for three years, this is the first year they’ve done layoffs during the slow season,” said Justin Saenger, an employee of three years who has worked at Alamo Drafthouse locations in both Texas and Brooklyn.
Saenger said the chronic understaffing also negatively impacts the customer experience.
“It shouldn’t take 20 minutes for somebody’s food or drink to come out, even if they ordered before the movie, but due to the material conditions of our workplace, we just don’t have the bandwidth to keep up with the demand,” he said. “These are not cheap tickets, and they used to be better. Usually, the modus operandi just cuts hours down significantly. Most of the people here have second jobs as is, but to lay off 70 workers without warning or severance is really just a very shocking blow, and it’s really drastically affected morale.”
Alamo’s staff voted to join the United Auto Workers — which also represents Nitehawk Cinema employees — on Sept. 29, 2023, and have been engaged in unsuccessful contract negotiations since. Saenger said NYC Alamo United classifies the layoffs as illegal, arguing that they violate the “status quo” mandate, which requires employers to maintain existing terms and conditions of employment for unionized workers during negotiations.
According to Barouche, the company has changed legal representatives multiple times and has not negotiated in good faith.
“We’re not happy or satisfied with how they discuss or even don’t discuss contract proposals or topics at the table with us,” he said. “We get it — bargaining is a give and take — but we have not seen healthy, productive discussion coming out of the talks, and we’ve been bargaining for over a year now.”
Despite Alamo Drafthouse’s lack of communication since the strike began, Barouche remains optimistic that their efforts are making an impact by discouraging customers from patronizing the theaters and canceling their season passes.
“There’s a sweet spot, but I don’t think Alamo is interested in finding that sweet spot. I think they’re interested in finding what makes them the most money,” he said.
The recent layoffs are part of a broader trend within the company. Earlier this year, Alamo Drafthouse reduced 25% of its hourly staff at non-unionized locations without prior notice. The company also laid off 15 corporate employees at the start of the year.
Representatives for Alamo Drafthouse did not respond to Brooklyn Paper’s repeated requests for comment at the time of publication.
