About 200 workers employed at Cineplex Coquitlam voted to join UFCW 1518 last week.

“We are so excited to welcome the staff at Cineplex to our union!” said President Kim Novak. “This group are a dynamic, energetic group of workers who experience challenges in a high turnover environment. Our role going forward is to support them to take on these challenges by hearing from them on what we need to negotiate into a contract that will improve their quality of work life.”

President Novak said she looks forward to building a collaborative working relationship with the employer and negotiating a strong first contract for workers. “We are regularly contacted by young workers employed in highly precarious jobs in the retail, entertainment and service industries. They often express to us that they want to have a strong voice in their workplace to advocate for a better work environment. We are proud to represent Cineplex workers and provide them the representation to give them that strong voice to better workplace.”

Union leadership and representatives will be meeting with members this weekend. “Our ongoing focus is to provide the highest level of representation to our members as well to bring the rights and benefits of the union to non-unionized workers across British Columbia, and the way we best provide that representation is by talking directly to our members about what they need to make their workplace a better place to work,” President Novak said.