The most wealthy country in the world can’t find a way to feed its air traffic controllers, but Casa Bonita can keep Black Bart on the floor a little while longer.
While federal workers struggle to make ends meet during the ongoing federal government shut-down, a different group of long-suffering professionals just took a big step forward in their fight for dignity and a living wage. The united performers of Casa Bonita, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s towering pink cathedral made famous by the Season 7 episode of the same name, have returned to work following a brief strike and amidst ongoing negotiations between Casa Bonita management and union representatives from the Actors’ Equity Association.
Don’t Miss
It’s important to note that, despite the cessation of the Casa Bonita picket line, the performers who make Casa Bonita an international entertainment destination are still working towards their first unionized contract, and management will have to seriously address the workers’ concerns about safety and compensation unless they want another round of “Dey took ‘er jerbs!!!!” to erupt out front.
“The halls of the Pink Palace will once again echo with the splashes of divers and the laughter of delighted children as the performers of Casa Bonita return to work following a three-day strike,” wrote the Casa Bonita United Instagram page, which represents the organized actors, cliff-divers and puppeteers of the Casa Bonita workforce.
According to Actors’ Equity general counsel and Casa Bonita United’s lead negotiator Andrea Hoeschen, “We have an official agreement to engage in mediation, which presents a real opportunity for productive movement toward a contract.” Hoeschen continued, “With that in place, we offered an unconditional return to work, effective Sunday, which ends the strike.”
Last month, tensions over the working conditions and wages of the Casa Bonita performers reached an all-time high when the restaurant suddenly cut many employees’ hours in advance of its Halloween-themed “Casa BOOnita” pop-up event. Union representatives such as Hoeschen accused management of using the cuts as a retaliatory measure against their organized laborers, but, now that the spooky season is behind us, Casa Bonita will return to its full operation and the union can continue to make its case.
Among the more concerning complaints made by Casa Bonita employees during the unionization push regards the rampant physical and sexual assault that roving costumed performers claim to suffer daily, with drunken, disorderly patrons regularly groping them through their gorilla costumes. Performers say that Casa Bonita management has failed to take such safety concerns seriously, with one Casa Bonita staff member declaring, “Safety is not negotiable. Safety comes first, and that is the end of the question and a lot of those things, legally, they just need to be providing and doing.”
While the exact terms of the return-to-work deal remain unclear, hopefully Casa Bonita management has made strides in protecting its gorillas from pervy poachers.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: feeds.feedburner.com
