(NEW YORK CITY) - On a recent Tuesday night, the hottest show at the Alamo Drafthouse in Downtown Brooklyn wasn’t Bong Joon-ho’s new sci-fi flick Mickey 17 or the family-friendly Paddington in Peru - it was arguably the two dozen Alamo Workers on Strike outside, their voices extending a couple blocks down the Fulton Street Strip. 

“Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Don’t Go To The Alamo,” the group chanted, marching in a circle late into the evening. “Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Corporate Greed Has Got To Go.” 

NYC Alamo United, represented by United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2179, went on Strike on February 21st in response to layoffs at the dine-in theater chain.

But the Union’s individual campaign is also emblematic of a Labor Movement sweeping across New York cinemas. 

Since 2020, Workers at seven movie theaters - Film at Lincoln Center, Anthology Film Archives, Cinema Village, Film Forum, Alamo locations in Lower Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn and Nitehawk Cinema’s Prospect Park branch - have Unionized with either UAW Local 2179 or UAW Local 2110.

The Locals are inspiring one another to fight for livable wages, more Staff and increased safety standards.

Workers believe this movement will continue gaining steam across New York’s set of young, left-leaning Service Employees, perhaps upending the industry in ways management is unaccustomed to. 

Roughly 300 combined Workers at the two Alamo Theaters first voted to form Unions in 2023, galvanized by understaffing and health and safety challenges, said Anthony Squitire, 26, a Server at the Brooklyn location and a Union Bargaining Committee Member.

To Continue Reading This Labor News Report, Go To: Unions are sweeping across the city's movie theaters - The Chief