CINEWORLD was accused by an entertainment union of “a calculated attack” on its workforce today as it cut off their furlough pay two weeks before the scheme officially ends.

Workers of Cineworld and Picturehouse cinemas have been told that they won’t be paid for time worked or on furlough after next week, following the chain’s decision to close 127 sites temporaily.

Cineworld boss Mooky Greidinger emailed workers on Wednesday night to say that their last pay day on October 30 will see them paid  only for shifts and time on furlough up to October 15 — even though the furlough scheme ends on October 31.

His email suggests that, even without pay, the employees are potentially expected to remain with the firm until further notice.

Mr Greidinger said that he had written to PM Boris Johnson to ask him to “acknowledge our special situation” and to reinstate the furlough scheme which paid 80 per cent of wages.

He said that the government’s new Job Support Scheme “simply does not fit our business at this time and does not help us in the same way” as the outgoing scheme.

The new scheme will only top up salaries in firms that cannot take employees back full-time. 

To be eligible, employees must be in a “viable job” and can work for at least one-third of their normal hours. 

For the hours not worked, the government and employer will each pay one-third of the remaining wages. The employee would get at least 77 per cent of their pay.

Philippa Childs, head of entertainment union Bectu, told the Star that Cineworld had yet to agree to “any meaningful discussions.”

She said: “We have no choice but to call the situation for what it is — a calculated attack on its workforce to cut them off from furlough two weeks before the scheme even ends.

“We are yet to receive an explanation as to why they aren’t taking advantage of the Job Support Scheme to keep their workforce in jobs over the next six months or consulting with their staff about redundancies.”

She also described Mr Greidinger’s request to Mr Johnson to be “bailed out as a special case” as “nothing more than an attempt to deflect from [Cineworld’s] responsibilities to its employees.”