Coronavirus: Event Cinemas restructuring, expects redundancies

Thursday, 14 May 2020

Event Cinemas is planning to make staff redundant as it copes with the impact of Covid-19 on its business.

It said it had been affected by the lockdown, changes in the future film line-up, the impact of coronavirus and the public health response to the pandemic.

It was starting a consultation process with staff and unions to reduce its workforce, it said in a statement. Unite Union said the cinema chain wanted to reduce labour by 50 per cent.

“The efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus globally has impacted the planned release of new films and the measures put in place under level 2 restrict the number of customers able to access cinemas,' said Carmen Switzer, general manager of Events Cinemas New Zealand.

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“The reality is in order to preserve as many jobs as we can in the long term and ensure we remain in a good position to get through this crisis we have made the difficult – but essential – decision to work with our teams to reduce our workforce. This will mean starting the process of redundancies and entering a consultation period with staff.

“Unfortunately, like many other businesses, we are not exempt from the impact of this pandemic. We are committed to working openly and honestly with our people during this time, supporting them in the best way we can.”

Cinemas can reopen in level 2 but must implement physical distancing between customers.

A significant problem for them is a lack of films to show.

'The re-opening of Event Cinemas NZ is dependent on both the global film releases scheduled by the major Hollywood studios and Alert Level restrictions and how they apply to cinemas,' Switzer said.

'For multiplex cinemas it will not be viable to fully re-open until the next major film dated for release which is Tenet, July 16. In the meantime we are looking at how we may re-open on a limited basis with alternative and retrospective film content before mid-July.

'We have invested in e-commerce to ensure we can meet social distancing requirements and developed sanitation plans that are being tested with customers and have been well-received. We will make further announcements about a formal re-opening date soon. We know our customers cannot wait to visit us and we look forward to welcoming audiences back to their local cinema.'

Union spokesman John Crocker said negotiations were still under way to determine whether the chain's staff would have hours cut, or be offered voluntary redundancy as an option. 'A lot of businesses have struggled with restrictions around how they operate but cinemas are in a really difficult position because they don't have any product.'

He said it was possible that the extended wage subsidy could help them get through to the point where films could start showing again.