Event Cinema staff strike nationwide, movies to screen as scheduled

Staff at Event Cinemas across the country are striking this weekend but movies will screen as scheduled over the weekend, the company says.

Unite Union national director Mike Treen said the organisation had authorised industrial action across Event Cinemas after Wednesday night's strike for the midnight screening of Solo: A Star Wars Story.

The industrial action will run from 5pm today until Sunday night during the opening weekend of the movie.

Treen said union members were yet to receive another offer from Event Cinemas since falling into dispute on Tuesday night.

Union members had been bargaining for pay increases that would stop their wages from being compressed for anyone earning above the minimum wage, he said.

The union claimed long-serving staff and those who were in supervisor and management positions risked their wage differentials being lost, and faced the possibility of becoming minimum wage workers.

But Carmen Switzer, of Event Cinemas, said the company had made a proposal for an overall wage increase of 4 per cent which the company believed was fair.

"This is the highest wage increase that we have ever offered and we understand that the average annual wage increase across all industries last year was 1.9 per cent."

She said the strikes would not affect movie screenings, which would go ahead as scheduled.

"We have staff to continue to trade, business as usual."