Boycott Picturehouse?

[????]

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[rendelharris]

Otta Wrote:

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> Why is UKIP Supporter top of that list?

Just random listing of his qualities.

> I agree, but he hasn't actually been rude, and

> some people are quick to drop arguments and jump

> straight to @#$%& off.

"Do try and get out more and try to find a job rather than hanging around the EDF all day."

"edphstaff , you come across as a militant bunch of left wing whingers."

"Stop whinging and get real."

Not to mention a sweet little personal signoff tribute of "FORH". Admittedly he's been nastier on other threads, but I wouldn't exactly call that polite, would you?

[jaywalker]

Green Goose is entirely right on one point (and the illustration with Blockbusters is salient). That is, the technology of cinemas, enjoying a revival, is possible a short-lived one.

The following seems likely to happen (and, as always, has happened for me to be able to speculate). Home VR will occupy wall-sized space (most houses will in fact have a VR room very soon, dedicated in a way that people, for bathrooms, would have laughed about before bathrooms). This is necessary for 3D sound and vision, but also for movement, the key factor. Your cinematic (and other) engagement will be embodied and kinetic, not sat in a chair. I am afraid it is not just the screen size, it is the moving-involvement. And also the social involvement (as the VR rooms will be social affairs, with networked avatars of the other real and present). My prognosis is that in ten years the cinema will be a bit like the video store.

Admin will also have to evolve with respect to this.

[Green Goose]

rendelharris Wrote:

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And

> he's not being bullied, apart from one comment

> above people are simply quite rightly disagreeing

> with his hateful and puerile right-wing views and

> his bellicose spiteful attitude.

Interesting to see that you are still pre-occupied with your dislike of opposing views and that it is still eating away at you, day by day. Your inherent prejudices, sensitivities and intolerance just mean more attempts by you at spewing out more sanctimonious, vitriolic drivel.

[rendelharris]

Green Goose Wrote:

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> Interesting to see that you are still pre-occupied

> with your dislike of opposing views and that it is

> still eating away at you, day by day. Your

> inherent prejudices, sensitivities and intolerance

> just mean more attempts by you at spewing out more

> sanctimonious, vitriolic drivel.

That's right sweetie. You rather flatter yourself in thinking that dealing with you is anything other than a minor divertissment in my tea break; there are those on here of opposing views to mine who talk sense and are courteous and it's well worth having a debate with them, but you are most definitely not of that ilk. Say nighty-night to Villager for me.

[edphstaff]

Our local Labour MP Helen Hayes has promised to come to our picket on Saturday and say a few words

She's been really supportive of our campaign so far and has previously put forward a motion in the house of commons arguing that Picturehouse workers should be paid the living wage

http://www.brixtonblog.com/mp-helen-hayes-back-ritzy-?/43199

[Otta]

Did she say picturehouse specifically? Seems a bit unfair on the people working in other cinemas.

[edhistory]

Was that an illegal banner I saw outside Oddono's?

[JohnL]

edhistory Wrote:

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> Was that an illegal banner I saw outside Oddono's?

Whats an illegal banner and whats art :)

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/may/22/jeremy-deller-strong-and-stable-my-arse-posters-london

[edhistory]

Southwark Council operatives have previously asserted that this is an eco-crime.

Policy may have changed.

Mr Barber will know the answer.

[Chick]

They have now sacked three of the BECTU reps. ET on the way soon.

[edphstaff]

Picturehosue don't pay their staff a living wage and are on strike soon! Don't support them

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/oct/02/picturehouse-threatens-to-sack-striking-workers-in-dispute-over-pay

[Abe_froeman]

What does this mean "Bectu have announced plans to disrupt the British Film Institute?s London film festival "?

[Loz]

One of the cinemas, Picturehouse Central, is a venue for the festival. That's not to say they won't go full PITA and try and disrupt other venues, though.

[fishbiscuits]

edphstaff Wrote:

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> Picturehosue don't pay their staff a living wage

> and are on strike soon! Don't support them

When you say "don't support them"... are you asking people simply not to support their side of the argument, or to completely boycott Picturehouse cinemas?

Could you also let us know if the cinema will be open (staff working, films showing, and all that gubbins) this coming Saturday morning, for the kids films?

Thanks

[JohnL]

Helen Hayes supports the staff campaign anyway

[edphstaff]

Hi

Fishbiscuits, the staff aren't walking out until about 3pm this Saturday so the kids films should be fine

By 'don't support them' we do mean a total boycott. however, if you don't agree with this but still agree with our campaign we'd ask you not to enter the cinema when we are on strike after 3.30 on saturday and at other times over the next two weeks

We usually try to strike after the most popular kids film times at weekends whenever we can as we don't exactly like to upset them either

We do not know if the cinema will be open once we walk out. Management don't tell us, they often hire strike breakers and then again sometimes they don't and they just shut the cinema. You'd have to ask them

JohnL, Helen has supported our strike wonderfully and made a speech at a demo at ED a few months ago

She also raised the issue in PMQs and the PM had a funny response to say the least

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/economy/2017/07/picturehouse-cinema-strikes-are-becoming-emblematic-battle-workers-rights

thanks for your support!

[fishbiscuits]

I dunno... while I support your right to strike (and I believe it is largely justifiable in this case), I don't agree that calling for a total boycott is the right thing to do. Thanks for the info, tho.

[KalamityKel]

edphstaff Wrote:

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> We usually try to strike after the most popular

> kids film times at weekends whenever we can as we

> don't exactly like to upset them either

kind of defeats the point of a strike/boycott surely!

[JohnL]

Leftfootforward reporting 9 days of strikes (during the film festival)

http://leftfootforward.org/2017/10/picture-house-strikers-set-for-nine-day-walkout-despite-bosses-sack-threat/

I like that pic of Owen Jones and the Shadow Chancellor with them though.

[edphstaff]

KalamityKel, the kids films aren't the most profitable for the company and we'd rather not disappoint kids so young that they don't choose where they go to watch a film so we try to avoid them

we also have to work to pay rent etc so we can't strike all day etc

fishbiscuits, thanks for your reply and yeah i guess we just have different approaches to the issue

as of yet no one has been sacked for not breaking the law! we are really delighted with this positive outcome

here's some more press coverage for those that are interested:

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/actor-andy-serkis-backs-cinema-workers-protest-for-better-wages-at-his-film-premiere-a3650906.html

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/oct/02/picturehouse-threatens-to-sack-striking-workers-in-dispute-over-pay

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/oct/04/picturehouse-staff-protest-over-pay-at-start-of-london-film-festival

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2017/10/picturehouse-threatening-sack-workers-striking-over-living-wage

[Mick Mac]

edphstaff Wrote:

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> KalamityKel, the kids films aren't the most

> profitable for the company and we'd rather not

> disappoint kids so young that they don't choose

> where they go to watch a film so we try to avoid

> them

> we also have to work to pay rent etc so we can't

> strike all day etc

>

> fishbiscuits, thanks for your reply and yeah i

> guess we just have different approaches to the

> issue

>

> as of yet no one has been sacked for not breaking

> the law! we are really delighted with this

> positive outcome

>

>

What positive outcome - did I miss some conclusion on this?

[JohnL]

Mick Mac Wrote:

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> edphstaff Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > KalamityKel, the kids films aren't the most

> > profitable for the company and we'd rather not

> > disappoint kids so young that they don't choose

> > where they go to watch a film so we try to

> avoid

> > them

> > we also have to work to pay rent etc so we

> can't

> > strike all day etc

> >

> > fishbiscuits, thanks for your reply and yeah i

> > guess we just have different approaches to the

> > issue

> >

> > as of yet no one has been sacked for not

> breaking

> > the law! we are really delighted with this

> > positive outcome

> >

> >

>

> What positive outcome - did I miss some conclusion

> on this?

Not on the living wage - just the threat to sack anyone who strikes hasn't materialised I think.

[Mick Mac]

JohnL Wrote:

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> Not on the living wage - just the threat to sack

> anyone who strikes hasn't materialised I think.

ok good - but I doubt that this justifies "we are really delighted with this positive outcome"

[malumbu]

Fortunately the trade union is active. Got a nice article from our on-line web site

Cinema workers in Prospect?s BECTU sector have won widespread support for their high-profile campaign for a living wage. Honour Bayes goes behind the scenes of this long-running dispute

It?s the sort of David versus Goliath contest that has punters flocking to the cinema. But the story of the Living Staff Living Wage dispute, currently being fought by BECTU members against Picturehouse Cinema and its parent company Cineworld, should have you running away from the silver screen.

For nearly a decade staff at Picturehouse have been battling for the living wage ? the Living Wage Foundation sets this at ?9.75 an hour in London and ?8.45 for the rest of the UK.

In 2016 Cineworld declared profits of ?93.8m. It is the second-largest cinema circuit in Europe with more than 2,000 screens, but while Cineworld CEO Moshe J. Greidinger earned more than $2m last year, many Picturehouse staff struggle to pay their rent.

The dispute has seen as many twists and turns as a Hollywood drama. In 2014, following high-profile industrial action organised through media and entertainment union BECTU* and after seven years of campaigning, the staff at the Brixton Ritzy in south London gained a 26% pay rise and an agreement with Picturehouse (and owner Cineworld) to renegotiate towards the living wage in June 2016.

But for over a year the company has refused to pay the living wage at the Ritzy. Three union representatives there have been fired, a move BECTU is calling trade union dismissals.

Neither will the company agree to recognise BECTU as the staff union in the other Picturehouse venues that have now joined the campaign: Crouch End, Central, Hackney and East Dulwich in London, and Brighton, East Sussex.

?We?re asking for people to boycott Picturehouse and Cineworld to show them that the public support us ?

Alisdair Cairns ? please donate to support the strike fund (click picture to donate now)

?What Picturehouse is doing to avoid recognition is hiding behind a body that it set up, The Staff Forum,? explains Alisdair Cairns, from the Hackney Picturehouse, speaking on behalf of BECTU?s Picturehouse representatives.

?It is a staff association, with no trained officials, which provides feedback between workers and head office.

?But speaking to staff at Picturehouse cinemas across the country I know we want more than that,? he continues. ?We want a trade union that is actually going to provide genuine assistance in fighting for fairer terms and conditions of our employment and have the experience and expertise to be able to do that.?

This desire is evident from the growing BECTU membership across Picturehouse sites, up by 50% to about 320 in the past year. Commitment shows no sign of waning ? in a recent ballot members voted in huge numbers to continue strike action.

You can join a list of high-profile voices ? including actors Ian McKellen and Susan Sarandon and film director Ken Loach ? and get involved in a campaign that is now also contributing to the wider discussion of the need for a living wage in the wider economy.

The affected members are calling for a boycott of all Picturehouse and Cineworld cinemas until management agrees to recognise and enter into meaningful discussions with BECTU.

?We?re asking for people to boycott Picturehouse and Cineworld to show them that the public support us and and the idea that the company should be paying their staff fairly,? Cairns says.

He adds that as well as telling friends, family and colleagues why you?re boycotting, it?s important to let Picturehouse and Cineworld know, too.

?It?s incredibly helpful if people who are boycotting can let the company know they are doing it, by sending an email or tweeting at them at the company head offices.?