Ritzy cinema could sack 20% of staff after living wage campaign
Picturehouse Cinemas and its parent Cineworld risk provoking outrage with the controversial decision.
Grab some popcorn, turn off your phone and make sure you’re sitting comfortably. Picturehouse Cinemas has reignited its ongoing industrial relations drama by announcing redundancies at its Ritzy cinema in Brixton just weeks after finally agreeing to increase pay.
Picturehouse began as an independent company, founded to 'challenge the multiplex model', but its chain of 20 cinemas was acquired by the silver screen giant Cineworld in 2012.
Ritzy workers have been campaigning for the chain to pay them the London Living Wage (£8.80 per hour) for more than a year. They went on strike and even got the backing of film directors Ken Loach and Mike Leigh before management gave in in September and agreed to a 26% pay rise over three years.
