Report from the IATSE Local's Business Agent: The Oaks got an 11-month contract keeping Richard at the same hours and benefits with $1.19 an hour pay cut. The second part-time operator's job was lost. They demanded the contract end on Richard's retirement date next January. "So, we will probably be out there again next year."

February 25, 2005: There will be no flying picket tonight because there has been an oral agreement reached. A contract should be signed on Monday, and the membership will vote on it on Tuesday. There will be no pickets in the interim.

February 22, 2005: After 80 years of union operators, the new owners of the Oaks Theater in Berkeley have announced their decision to let go two union projectionists. The two projectionists, who have both worked at the Oaks for over 20 years, are members of a small local of one of the oldest unions in show business, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes (CQ), Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States and Canada (IATSE). The Oaks has been a union shop since the theater first opened in 1925. The new owner has said that it wants to change to a non-union shop and offered to dump one of the union projectionists and keep the other at reduced hours as a non-union projectionist for a year while he trains replacement workers.

People picketed the theater from Friday, February 18th through Tuesday, February 22nd. On Tuesday, the company began negotiating with the union and has made an offer to the union. As a good faith gesture the union took down the pickets on Tuesday at 6pm, and will be voting on whether to take the company's offer on Thursday. Currently, the union is still planning for the picket to return on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, from 30 minutes before the first show until 15 minutes after the last show starts. In a show of solidarity city workers have refused to pick up trash since the pickets went up, which proved to be an effective pressure point previously at the Elmwood Theater. Bus drivers and other community members are also showing their support as they pass the theater, and putting pressure on the company by calling them to complain about the firings. Mail, however, is still being delivered. There will be a Flying Picket at the theater on Friday (time to be announced).

The Oaks Theater is located at 1875 Solano Avenue between The Alameda and Colusa in North Berkeley and is easily accessible by AC Transit from Downtown Berkeley BART (the 43 and the 15). Transit Trip Planner

Berkeley Daily Planet article and reports | Oaks Theater Picket Website