Unionized employees at the Alamo Drafthouse in Sloans Lake, Colorado are going on strike over the dine-in chain’s recent shift to ordering food during movies using phones instead of pen and paper.
The workers will begin their strike this Friday during the opening weekend of “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” which is expected to bring high turnout to movie theaters worldwide.
Members of the Sloans Lake Alamo, who are unionized by Communications Workers of America Local 7777, say that the “disastrous” shift to scanning QR codes to place food order on phones before and during movies has led to “overcomplicated orders, lack of proper coursing, and increased friction between guests and staff.”
“The QR system isn’t optional, it’s being forced on every guest,” said Katie Hansen of the Sloans Lake bargaining committee. “This creates a worse experience for customers and makes our jobs harder, not easier. I have guests that I have served for 12 years saying they won’t come back again.”
Since being founded in Austin in 1997, Alamo Drafthouse has been known among hardcore moviegoers for its strict policy against talking or texting in theaters, informing customers before the movie starts that those who use their phones will be escorted from the auditorium without a refund after one warning.
But this past January, Alamo Drafthouse announced that the longstanding practice of using order cards and a button to order additional food during a movie would be replaced by an online system accessed through QR codes.
On its website, Drafthouse said the shift was being done so that servers would no longer inform moviegoers during the film about last calls for orders and place their checks on their tables during the third act of the movie, leading ideally to fewer distractions particularly during the most climactic moments of films. The chain estimates that only 15% of food orders at its locations are placed after the film begins.
The shift has led to major backlash from longtime loyal customers, who have argued that having to turn on phones, scanning a QR code and navigating a mobile site to place orders is just as if not more distracting for moviegoers than the pen-and-paper system. “Lord of the Rings” star and Austin resident Elijah Wood condemned the changes as a “profound and upsetting mistake” and “antithetical to the ethos of Alamo and those who love the theatrical experience they provide.”
Alamo Drafthouse declined to comment on the Sloans Lake strike, but insiders at the company have pointed to successful labor negotiations with employees at the chain’s locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn that included implementation of the QR code system. They also point to an increase in subscriptions to its Alamo Season Pass service, which offers one ticket per day for a monthly price, since the new system was rolled out nationwide.
In Sloans Lake, Alamo workers also claim that the theater’s management is using the QR code system as justification for future staffing reductions despite the company’s assurances that layoffs would not occur with this shift. Alamo insiders say that the company is sticking by that “no layoffs” policy with no changes in base wages for hourly employees.
The union says that Sloans Lake Alamo management offered an an “18-hour guarantee” it says is misleading, as it applies only to scheduled hours rather than actual hours worked and allows management to cut shifts on weekends where audience turnout is expected to be lower. The management also pushed for provisions that would prevent workers from speaking out against the QR system.
Meanwhile, 40 employees at another Colorado Alamo Drafthouse location in Westminster voted to join the CWA union, a move that the union says was done in response to the QR code rollout.
“We are the front line of the Alamo experience,” Hansen said. “This company was built on service. Replacing that with a forced QR system puts that entire experience at risk. Who comes to the movies to be on their phones?”
CWA 7777 is currently scheduled to resume negotiations with Alamo Drafthouse management on April 7.
