Over a year after it was formed and still without a contract, the union representing workers at the Coolidge Corner Theatre is collecting signatures for a pledge drive intended to gauge public support for a potential boycott of Brookline’s cinema.
The Coolidge Corner Theatre Union (CCTU) has garnered over 400 signatures since it launched the drive on June 9, and is aiming to collect at least enough signatures to fill the theater’s nearly 900 seats.
“We’re just gathering numbers to demonstrate the community is standing with us while we’re going through our negotiation campaign,” said Ginny Hamlin, who works as a floor supervisor at the theater and is a spokesperson for the union.
The roughly 40-member union—part of United Autoworkers Local 1596, which also represents employees at Brookline Booksmith—consists of the projectionist team and floor staff who work the concession stands, the box office, check tickets and fulfill supervising duties.
In their decision to unionize last May, workers cited no health care benefits, inconsistent scheduling and a lack of clear communication by leadership, WBUR reported. The theater’s leadership voluntarily recognized the union just a week after it filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board.
As contract negotiations pass over the nine-month mark, the union is expressing mounting frustration that it has not yet ratified a contract.
Negotiations reportedly stalled in November, with staff citing an “unsatisfactory and counterproductive proposal from management.” Sticking points have remained largely the same over the year, according to Hamlin.
The union is continuing to focus on “fair and competitive wages, for one, and better conditions in general,” Hamlin said. She added that bargaining sessions are taking place “pretty consistently,” but the union has “felt like the movement has been minimal.”
Kathy Tallman, CEO of the Coolidge, said in a statement that theater management respects staff members’ right to organize and remains committed to working collaboratively to reach an agreement.
“We have great respect and appreciation for our staff and their dedication to furthering the mission of our cherished nonprofit film and cultural institution,” she said.
She also denounced the idea of a boycott.
“A public boycott would not be in the interests of the very people it claims to support—our staff—and the mission of the Coolidge, which we’ve built together with care and commitment over decades,” Tallman said.
She added that the petition appears to have “limited support” among the broader community and the Coolidge’s annual audience, and said it was “unclear” whether the petition reflects the views of the majority of union members.
Part of the reason negotiations stalled in November, the union says, was what it saw as unfair payment practices in the theater’s counterproposal, treating tips as wages rather than granting supervisors proposed raises.
Its boycott petition states that the union has reduced its proposed hourly wage three times over the past year and removed health insurance from its list of demands in hopes of receiving higher wages.
Theater leadership, the union says, has met those “good faith” bargaining efforts with “stonewalling, attrition, and false claims” of a lack of funds to meet demands.
Tallman rejected the union’s charge, which comes at a difficult time for independent arts organizations, she said, citing the pending termination of the Coolidge’s National Endowment for the Arts grant: “At a time when nonprofit arts organizations are under attack…it is disheartening to be threatened with a boycott and to be falsely accused of “stonewalling.”
“In the meantime, we will continue to bargain in good faith and look forward to reaching a fair contract,” she said.
At the Coolidge, average hourly wages—including tips—range from $22 to $28, said Tallman. She contrasted those figures with the $15 to $16 hourly starting salaries of other regional theaters, such as Amherst Cinema, AMC Boston Common 19 and Kendall Square Cinema. Tallman added that some of those theaters don’t offer a way for floor staff to receive tips.
The Coolidge’s leadership is in the process of reviewing the proposal that the union sent on Friday, June 13, and has reached out to schedule the next meeting, Tallman said.
Management’s current proposal includes a guaranteed $1 hourly raise each year, effective immediately and lasting for the duration of the contract, Tallman said. The Coolidge’s deputy director, Beth Gilligan, said that all staff members received the proposal, which included the wage clause, in an email on March 28.
The union responded in a statement, stating that “customer generosity during high-stress shifts isn’t a substitute for stable, fair compensation” and that members feel that the wage increase does not adequately account for the “increase in responsibilities taken on by both floor staff and supervisors” following the Coolidge’s expansion.
Brookline residents Sarah Allwarden, 29, and her partner Sam Mudge, 31, both signed the boycott pledge. They visit the Coolidge two or three times a week.
“We love the Coolidge Corner Theatre because it’s part of the community. And to me, one of the most important parts of community is having those people’s backs,” said Allwarden, a unionized librarian.
“Luckily, in the Boston area, we have kind of an embarrassment of riches in regards to repertory theaters and good movie theaters,” Allwarden said. “This isn’t the only option people have in the area. We can take our business elsewhere, even if we don’t want to.”
Hamlin emphasized that the union’s objective is to demonstrate community support rather than to escalate conflict as bargaining talks continue.
“Our goal is not to—and it’s never been to—destabilize the theater or to tell people not to go,” Hamlin said. “I feel like all the support has restated the message and driven the point home that the workers are part of the community as well.”