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The vote doesn’t mean the workers will immediately strike; spokesperson Ginny Hamlin said “we do want to be heard a little more first.”
As workers at Coolidge Corner Theatre bargain their first ever union contract since unionizing last year, the union overwhelmingly voted last week to authorize a strike “after weeks of deadlock,” it announced on social media.
The vote does not mean the union, which management voluntarily recognized in June 2024, will go on strike soon, said Ginny Hamlin, a spokesperson for the union and supervisor at the historic Brookline nonprofit cinema.
Hamlin said Coolidge’s voluntary recognition of the union was an “exciting” “show of good faith,” but negotiations since then have been slow.
“Negotiations have been just so long, and definitely I think we have not really reached a point in our contract that we’re feeling very happy with,” Hamlin told Boston.com Thursday. “Both sides seem to be antsy for an agreement to be reached, and it just quite hasn’t reached that point for us.”
The vote doesn’t mean the workers will immediately strike; Hamlin said “we do want to be heard a little more first.”
The union’s major concerns for the contract mostly cover job protection, Hamlin said, including protections for part-time or seasonal workers and around the implementation of self-service kiosks, which the union wants to “meet in the middle” on.
“We’ve been making a lot of concessions throughout the process, and so we feel like the contract should be reached soon,” Hamlin said. “What more directly got us on the path for strike authorization was protection of our jobs at the theater.”
In June of 2024, Coolidge Corner Theatre voluntarily agreed to recognize the union after the workers filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board, allowing 40 theater employees to join United Autoworkers Local 1596, The Boston Globe reported. Six months last, negotiations had stalled.
More than 80 percent of the union voted to authorize a strike, Hamlin said, which is the first step in a process with the UAW to access a strike fund.
In a statement, Coolidge’s Executive Director and CEO Beth Gilligan reiterated the union’s message that, while the vote took place, there currently is not an imminent strike.
Gilligan added that the cinema has “presented a comprehensive proposal” and hopes the unions “will give the employees an opportunity to vote on it.”
“The Coolidge Corner Theatre deeply values its staff and the vital role they play in the organization’s mission and community impact. We remain in active, good-faith negotiations with the union and are committed to reaching a fair and sustainable agreement,” Gilligan said. “In the meantime, the theatre continues normal operations and remains focused on serving its audiences and community.”
If the union chooses to strike, Hamlin said it will be announced to the public, but, for now, “we do want people to enjoy going there and visiting.”
The union has no timeframe to get a contract approved before choosing to strike, Hamlin said.
“We’re hoping that the next few negotiation sessions will be really productive,” Hamlin said. “We just are feeling hopeful about the immediate future, so that we’re hoping we won’t have to go on strike at all.”
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