It is
still surreal that we are going to get the London Living Wage (£9.15) in
January 2015 plus the immediate pay rise from £7 to £8. Our story has been no
different from any other workers across the globe. Having to live on £7 an hour
was really difficult as either one had to work a lot of hours to make ends meet
or one couldn't survive, as there weren't any shifts available at the cinema.
Some of us had to live on a day to day basis, counting coins to see what we
could eat. With an overdrawn overdraft, bills pending payment and rent about to
come out, it was quite a depressing cloud one had to carry when going to work.
We were unable to go out for a nice meal or drinks, or watch a film for free
(one of the perks of working in the cinema) as we didn't want to pay to travel
all the way back to the cinema on our day off. Instead, most of us would spend
our day off sleeping, doing house work, and engaging in artistic projects to
remind ourselves why we were living on this planet in the first place. We just
didn't have any purpose anymore and all we did was serve popcorn and pick up
rubbish every day. Working a lot also didn't allow us to spend time with family
and friends which can be difficult of course. We can't imagine how it must feel
to be a cleaner or a bus driver in this city having to support a family.
Luckily most of us have only ourselves to take care of- that is quite stressful
already! But since Wednesday
29th October 2014, things have changed a bit. We got our pay rise and we're
going to get the LLW in January and we can already sense a good feeling in the
air around the cinema. We are looking forward to a new era of working with
Curzon, with the help of BECTU, to make our cinemas a better place to work and
visit both for the workers and our loyal customers. No one could ask for more
than that. All we want is a peaceful, fun and exciting life inside and outside
of work and perhaps this is achievable, especially considering that the Green
Party are calling for an increase in the minimum wage from £6.31 to £10 an hour.
If this comes to pass, it will make this country, and especially London, a
better place to live.
We
are so grateful for all the overwhelming support we've received from such a
variety of individuals, artists, activists and organisations who have been
essential in helping us get to this point – not least the 6,800++
customers who signed our petition. THANK YOU SO MUCH.
Every
one of one you has given us the courage and support to keep going. A huge thank
you to all the BECTU members at Curzon in London and across the country - you
are, without doubt, the fuel to this victory. We hope the new way of working
with Curzon will inspire all other low waged workers across the country to
stand up for themselves and get what they deserve. It's about time. Thank you
again for all your support. We could not have done it without every one of you.
Thank you!
“Faith
is taking the firsts step even when you don't see the whole
staircase.” Martin Luther King, Jr.”
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