After nearly two months on strike, workers at Alamo Drafthouse, a dine-in cinema chain, have forced Sony to reverse course on its mass firings. Last Sunday, Alamo United members overwhelmingly ratified a tentative agreement that restores every illegally laid off worker to their job, reinstates stolen paid time off and sick leave, and honors each worker’s original hire date and seniority. The strike officially ends this Friday.
Alamo Drafthouse, which was acquired by Sony in June 2024, started the year by trying to push through mass layoffs at multiple locations. At its non-unionized locations like its Slaughter Lane venue in Austin, the company laid off 25 percent of its hourly staff in January. Managers were instructed to fire people the night before and carry out the cuts by phone the next morning, leaving workers without a paycheck or a plan mere hours before their shifts.
The company had also communicated its intentions to lay off 70 members at the unionized Manhattan and Brooklyn Alamo locations effective February 1. On January 31, NYC Alamo United workers — who are unionized with the UAW — voted 98.2 percent to authorize an unfair labor practice strike if the company went through with the layoffs. The union tried to negotiate the reinstatement of their fired coworkers for two weeks, but when the company wouldn’t budge, Alamo United began their strike on February 14.
The workers’ win comes after 58 days on the picket line. For weeks, workers held demonstrations, marched through Manhattan, and built solidarity with customers, community, and fellow union members across the country. In Austin, workers launched their own organizing efforts under the name SlaughterHouse United.
Sony’s union-busting tactics are taken straight from a well-worn playbook. From Amazon to Starbucks, Trader Joe’s, Google, and countless others, corporations have routinely tried to crush worker organizing — whether by blocking union drives outright or, when workers succeed, by stalling, undermining their efforts, or refusing to bargain in good faith.
Alamo workers, like many other workers that have been organizing in their unions for Palestine and against attacks on immigrants, recognize that fighting oppression makes our collective fight stronger. During their strike, workers stood unapologetically for Palestine and spoke out against the state’s attempt to deport Mahmoud Khalil. Their picket lines were also joined by fellow UAW member Grant Miner, the president of Student Workers of Columbia, who is fighting to be reinstated after being fired by Columbia University. As they fought for their own jobs, Alamo United workers made it clear that struggles for workers’ rights, for immigrants’ rights, and against repression are all connected.
While we still don’t have information about the entire tentative agreement, it’s encouraging that Alamo United was able to reinstate all their fired coworkers, come back stronger, and continue the fight for better working conditions. The company’s attempts at layoffs sparked a struggle that actually strengthened the collective solidarity of its workers.
This win is a reminder of where our power really lies — in withholding our labor, hitting the bosses in their pocketbooks, and uniting our struggles. As Trump and the Right ramp up attacks on unions, immigrants, trans folks, DEI, and the right to protest, Alamo workers remind us that we are strongest when we organize as workers.
“Thank you to everyone who supported – all who donated, all who shared, all who showed up, all who boycotted,” Alamo United wrote on Instagram. “Together, we showed Sony and Alamo who REALLY has the power – the people, when we stand together, united.”
