Barbenheimer Powers Unionization Push at Denver Alamo Drafthouse Locations

Workers' rights: coming soon to a theater near you.

At least, that’s what Alamo Drafthouse Cinema employees now unionizing at three metro Denver locations are planning. On December 31, employees at the Westminster outpost of the national movie-theater chain informed the company that a majority of workers there are ready to vote for a union.

The group plans to file for an election with the National Labor Relations Board this week; 70 percent of the 106 employees at the theater at 8905 Westminster Boulevard have signed union cards. At the chain’s Sloan’s Lake outpost, nearly 50 percent of the employees have signed cards. Efforts at the Littleton location are further behind.

“We are confident that Sloan's Lake will pull up and be ready to go within the week at the very latest,” says Ian Miller, a former Alamo Drafthouse employee who has spearheaded the effort to form a union...and claims he was fired as a result.

Although employees have been attempting to unionize at Alamo since at least 2022, this is the furthest those efforts have gone. They're fueled by one of the biggest movie fads of last year: Barbenheimer. The blockbuster phenomenon occurred when the Barbie and Oppenheimer movies were both released on July 21 and people made an event of sitting down for a double feature.

On July 26, Alamo Drafthouse CEO Sheli Taylor and President Michael Kustermann sent an email to employees detailing how successful the Barbenheimer weekend had been for the company. “We sold 65,586 bowls of popcorn which is equal to 81,982 gallons or…30 full concrete mixer trucks,” the email declared. “If we were to lay out every fried pickle spear and mozzarella stick sold over the weekend, they would span 6.65 miles or…the length of approximately six-and-a-half Imperial Star Destroyers!”

Alamo Drafthouse served over 300,000 guests that weekend alone, according to the email. It thanked the employees, but then took a turn as it detailed just how much money the theater industry had made on Barbenheimer — over $300 million, marking just the fourth time it had collected that much in a weekend. At Alamo Drafthouse, all Barbie-related events like brunch and slumber-party showings were at capacity.

“It was saying, ‘We had such a wonderful time, so much money was funneling through our doors,’ and then all of us look around and go, ‘So why are we all paycheck to paycheck?’” Miller says of employees’ reaction to the email. “How are we struggling right now if we just created all this value? … There was this working-class rage that started to fester.”

By August, Miller and other employees had started the process that will culminate in union elections by forming the Alamo Collective, which is part of the Communication Workers of America, Local 7777.

Alamo Drafthouse was established in Austin, Texas, in 1997. The hip chain is known for its full food and drink service during movies; its first Colorado location opened in Aspen Grove in 2013. The Sloan's Lake spot debuted in 2017 and the Westminster outpost in 2019. The company has plans for a location in Glendale, too. It currently has 44 locations across the country; theaters in New York City, Texas and California have also unionized.

Miller only started at the company in May, but says he quickly realized that there aren't effective training systems in place and that the corporate entity wasn’t responsive when problems arose. “I saw a lot of very neglectful, abusive conduct from corporate and from certain areas of management, and it just became very apparent to me pretty early on that the store was rampant with issues,” Miller says.

Shift leader Em Nassif has been working at the Westminster location for over two years and witnessed the 2022 union attempt fizzle out. But the thirty-year-old says conditions at that Alamo location can't continue as they are.

“The big push for why I'm doing this is because I'm very good friends with most of the people that work at Westminster,” Nassif says. “We have a really good crew, and I've seen them all get mistreated, exploited, overworked, denied workman's comp for serious injuries, and it's just been too much. So anything that I could do to help protect them, I'm going to do.”

At a January 2 rally on the sidewalk outside the Sloan’s Lake location, at 4255 West Colfax Avenue, nearly forty workers and supporters gathered to officially announce the union's demands.

“There are thousands of reasons we're here,” Miller said to the crowd. “We have been abused. We've been neglected by our employers. They have been making millions and millions of dollars off our backs, off of our labor, our ability to get money through these doors.”

The union is asking for a flat pay raise and a contractual stipulation that wages will increase based on cost of living and inflation, along with pay transparency. It's also looking for a percentage of the sales from tickets, food and drinks sold at each theater and the expansion of health-care benefits to more of the staff.

Workers say that pay levels differ at the three Denver locations even if workers have the same jobs or the same tenure; Littleton employees are paid less than those at the other two spots. However, the benefits packages related to holidays and health care are consistent across the company.

The company only gives holiday pay on Christmas and Thanksgiving. On any other federal holidays, employees make their regular wage. The Alamo Collective is also asking the company to expand holiday pay to all bank holidays.

“There's also been a pattern of delays and incorrect paychecks,” Nassif tells Westword. “Most of my co-workers and I have to check our pay stubs every single week to make sure that they're correct, and routinely, they are incorrect.”

"Alamo Drafthouse has always believed in providing competitive wages and robust benefits to ensure our teammates feel valued, supported, and empowered to thrive both personally and professionally,” the company says through a spokesperson. “We review compensation data several times throughout the year and make adjustments as needed. Additionally, we offer teammates best-in-class fringe benefits as well as many other perks.”

The workers unionizing in metro Denver disagree, saying that work conditions aren’t acceptable. There are no scheduled breaks, they note; Nassif and Miller both report that shift meals go uneaten and wasted because unless there is a natural lull in service, no one has an actual break to eat, or even just rest.

“If there are no lulls, we just don't get a break that day,” Nassif says.

Shifts typically last between four and eight hours. Colorado law specifies that after five hours, workers must be given a thirty-minute meal break and are entitled to an additional ten-minute break for every four hours of work.

Nassif also says the company has a general disregard for worker safety, recalling how last fall there was a gas leak in the kitchen and management didn’t respond for twelve hours. Finally, an employee called the fire department.

“Employees were told that they were being dramatic for reporting headaches and nausea to management,” Nassif recalls. “Everyone working in the kitchen was just expected to work as usual, as there was a CO2 leak happening.”

Because of the “ninja service” Alamo Drafthouse uses to avoid blocking patrons’ view of the movies while workers deliver food and drink, many employees say they have developed stress injuries. Since the injuries don’t occur in a single incident, the company refuses to take responsibility when workers can’t perform their duties anymore, according to Nassif.

“Alamo Drafthouse is dedicated to the well-being and prosperity of our teammates in our goal to be the best damn cinema that has ever or will ever exist and our deeply held commitment to ensure every guest and teammate has an awesome experience and is excited to come back,” the company responds.

The most serious accusations include sexual harassment. Multiple employees from the Westminster and Sloan’s Lake locations say they were sexually harassed or witnessed a co-worker being sexually harassed and that nothing was done to remedy those situations.

“We want to bring democratic-elected management to be able to hold management accountable for their ability to enforce policy, especially regarding sexual harassment,” Miller says.

According to the company, it takes allegations of sexual harassment and abuse seriously.

“We have a zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment and abuse of any kind as detailed in our Code of Conduct policy that is publicly posted at all venues,” the company statement continues. “All allegations and complaints are investigated thoroughly with appropriate discipline, up to and including termination.”

Miller was fired on October 31, officially for attendance infractions. However, he says company policy calls for employees getting three write-ups in one month before being terminated.

“I had one write-up over the course of that entire month,” Miller recounts. “Then they just summarily fired me for attendance when I was fifteen minutes late.”

Jet Magetti, who was organizing Littleton workers, was fired shortly after Miller for the same reason; Magetti had only one attendance write-up over eight months of employment at the Alamo Drafthouse.

“They immediately changed the policy on the day he was fired to try and align it better with how we were fired,” Miller says. “But we have the change date on record.” As a result of both local organizers losing their jobs, the Alamo Collective sped up its timetable. Miller says the union is examining whether he and Magetti can file any claims of unfair labor practices.

According to Nassif, shortly after the Westminster unionizers revealed their campaign to management, managers told employees they are not allowed to discuss the union on Alamo Drafthouse property.

“That is very illegal,” Nassif says. “My right to discuss union activity and topics is protected by law.”

"The Alamo is not corporate,” says Maggie Werhane, who alleges she was fired from the Sloan’s Lake location after reporting sexual assault to human resources. “It is not the hedge-fund managers who gain profit from each and every one of us as we struggle to make ends meet. It is not the managers who ignored the sexual harassment. Nor is it the harassers who are moved around like Catholic priests. It's the servers, the runners, the line cooks, the dishwashers, the bartenders. We make the value. It's time for them to remember that.”