Staff strike back with Star Wars action

Event Cinemas is feeling the force of strike action, as a new Star Wars movie premieres nationwide.

Staff at the cinema chain had earlier declared they would walk off the job at 10pm on Wednesday. Their decision came after weeks of employment negotiations between Unite Union and Event Cinema’s management broke down that afternoon.

Despite the strikes and rallies at Auckland and Wellington cinemas, the cinema chain vowed its Solo: A Star Wars story premiere would go ahead, calling the staff action ‘‘unlawful’’.

Outside Wellington’s Embassy Theatre, cinema worker Jason Tolley told the crowd of 20 protesters that claims of shrinking cinema profits didn’t match reports of record-breaking box office successes.

‘‘If we can’t get to the end of the week and afford to go to a movie — how is that fair? This company is making millions, this isn’t right. We’re not asking for the world, we’re asking for parity.’’

Inside the cinema, staff watching the protest from the second floor, said the movie had ‘‘absolutely’’ gone ahead.

Hannah Agar, an organiser for Unite Union, said minimum wage job payment rates at Event Cinemas had risen in line with legislation but wage rates for more senior positions had not had similar rises. This had lead to an unfair situation for more senior staff.

‘‘Negotiations broke down literally in the past few days and they were actually going quite well.’’

Event Cinemas general manager Carmen Switzer said the strike would not impact ‘‘anything we’re doing’’.

The Ron Howard-directed Solo: A Star Wars Story centres on the character of Han Solo, played by Alden Ehrenreich. Police were not justified in tasering a man in the back as he fled to avoid being arrested, an investigation has found.

The finding released by the Independent Police Conduct Authority stated that on March 4, 2017, the man was seen speeding down the wrong side of a road in Henderson. A police officer – referred to as ‘Officer A’ – was directed to a home by the Eagle helicopter, but when he arrived the man tried to hide.

The officer shone his taser’s laser sighting at the man but did not warn him about the taser at that stage. In a statement, the police said the officer was alone and unsure if the man had a weapon. The officer told the man to come out from hiding. The man fled in the direction of the parked police car. As he fled, the officer tasered him in the back.

This caused the man to fall