RITZY Cinema workers found themselves threatened with the sack at the weekend after months of negotiations and a hard fought-for agreement for higher wages was finally agreed upon.

Entertainment union Bectu representatives at the south London cinema were left in shock when Ritzy owner Picturehouse Cinemas announced the redundancies as part of new policy of “improvement in the consistency of customer service.”

“We are utterly dismayed and saddened by the brutality which was thrown at us yesterday by Picturehouse Cinemas,” read a statement by the Ritzy Living Wage campaign.

As reported in the Morning Star, Ritzy workers were able to win the guarantee of a 26 per cent increase in their salaries over three-years after a long and widely publicised campaign of strike action earlier in the year.

The statement also accused the new policy of being “nothing short of a scandalous provocation which is set out to undermine a year’s worth of hard work to gain a bare-minimum wage rise.”

It added: “Nothing short of backhanded corruption of statistics, nothing short of pure vindictive retaliation because we the workers showed that ,with determination and collectivity, we could effect change to make our lives that tiny bit more comfortable.”

The jobs of two managers, eight supervisors, three technical staff and much of the front-of-house and bar staff are now hanging by a thread.

The workers are now arguing that the move breaks the agreements between the union and employer and are looking into possibilities for future action.

Picturehouse Cinemas declined to comment.

joanaramiro@peoples-press.com