Casa Bonita actors, performers to hit the picket line ahead of Halloween
LAKEWOOD, Colo. (KRDO) – Actors and performers at Casa Bonita say they plan to hit the picket lines on Thursday after restaurant management reportedly walked away from contract negotiations.
The group of unionized workers – including cliff divers, actors, and other entertainers at the iconic Mexican restaurant in Lakewood – represented by the Actors’ Equity Association said Casa Bonita management walked away from talks after offering only an 11-cent increase from its previous wage proposal.
According to our Denver news partners, 9NEWS, the workers are planning to picket outside the restaurant beginning at 11 a.m. on Oct. 30, pushing for what they call fair pay and safer working conditions.
Casa Bonita, now owned by "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, reopened last year after undergoing $40 million in renovations. According to the union, contract negotiations have been ongoing since April.
According to a release from the Actors' Equity Association, the performers unanimously voted to unionize last November. In September, the union filed an unfair labor practice charge against Casa Bonita, claiming the restaurant illegally cut more than 1,000 hours from workers without engaging in bargaining.
Since then, the union says management has "added insult to injury" by doubling down on what they call an unfair wage proposal and not responding to their demands around performer safety.
On Oct. 20, performers delivered a bargaining petition to management to urge them to accept the contract on the table, signed by 95% of the workers.
That petition argues that while the living wage calculator prices living in Denver at over $30 an hour, most performers only make $21 an hour. The petition also denounced management’s proposed 3% raise over two years, calling it inadequate to address inflation or the currently existing pay gap.
"We are the reason guests leave smiling and telling stories about Casa Bonita. We are the reason people drive across states to see this show," lead diver Bethel Lindsley said in a release from the union. "And yet, management continues to devalue the very people who make it all possible."
Casa Bonita management has not yet issued a public statement regarding the latest developments in contract negotiations.
The picketing announcement comes just a week after Brooke Shields, an actress and the president of the Actors' Equity Association, publicly called out the owners of Casa Bonita in an Instagram post for what she described as "low pay" for entertainers.
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