Alamo Drafthouse is laying off workers at its three Denver-area locations — part of the recent round of cuts that have hit the chain’s theaters nationwide.
The union that represents the workers, Communications Workers of America Local 7777, said dozens of people are affected and described the move as “unprecedented and unjust.”
Josh Reitze, a line cook at the Sloans Lake theater, said workers are frustrated the layoffs were presented without a clear rationale.
The union has been in talks with Alamo since the broader layoffs were announced and said the chain reduced the number of local layoffs.
The union’s current count of people out of work: 23 people from the Westminster location, 13 from the Littleton location and 11 from the Sloans Lake location, Reitze said.
An Alamo spokesperson said the layoffs were designed to ensure the remaining staff could keep their full hours, but declined to be identified by name.
Is the box office to blame?
So far, 2025 box office sales have been up about 14 percent from the same time last year, and Hollywood is anticipating a bounceback from the pandemic and labor strikes, Variety reported this week.
Seasonal slowdowns in January are normal. Alamo has often responded by cutting hours, according to the union.
Layoffs, on the other hand, are shocking.
Other Alamo theaters nationwide laid off an untold number of workers in December, and the company dropped 9 percent of its corporate workforce, Variety reported.
The once-independent Austin, Texas-based company was purchased by Sony in June.
Alamo workers are ready to 'respond and escalate'
Until this round of layoffs, Reitze had not noticed a big difference in what the chain offered or how it was run. Now, he said, that’s changed.
The union has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.
Reitze said workers are prepared to “respond and escalate,” but for now nobody’s asking for boycotts or other actions.
“We just want the public to make Alamo aware that they're not happy about this,” he said. “This is, at the end of the day, going to lead to worse service.”
