This strikes a nerve in me for many reasons.
Somehow massive franchises such as Picturehouse, Odeon, Vue, etc CANNOT afford to pay their staff a fair wage when their revenues are normally through the roof. As a former employee of one of these companies, I remember how we always used to get told that cinemas don’t make money from films, but just from food and drinks. You may think then: yeah a lot of people do bring their own sacks. However, I can guarantee you that there are just as many guests who buy a ton of things and they are all severely overpriced with excellent margins, considering popcorn for example costs next to nothing to be made.
And another huge issue… the managers of these places often feel entitled to bully the staff as there are protective regulations in place that allow them to get away with murder. They like to enforce unnecessary restrictions and make the employees do things not covered in their contracts or worse they just state that if you’ve signed the contract they’re in power to ask you to do whatever they like and trust me there are many vile happenings in theaters, people lose all inhibitions in the dark.
FYI for anyone who doesn’t know there are infrared cameras in all screens so they can see everything you do and I mean EVERYTHING!
I believe that this whole situation for the Picturehouse personnel derives from the fact that generally, cinema managers don’t see their employees as valuable members of their team, everyone is replaceable and as always there are people who are willing to work for less money. You could be the best at what you do but god forbid, you have a brain, progressive ideas and you don’t like to put your head down when unfair things happen, you’ll be slowly but surely pushed out one way or another.
This is exactly why Picturehouse is ready to sack its staff striking for a fair living wage rather than allow them to set an important precedent encouraging or even forcing other chains to succumb to paying their people justly.
I feel for all of you guys! I do realise that there are many other jobs/professions suffering from the same thing but every fight is individual. I sincerely hope you win yours!