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Molly Martin and Instagram<\/p>\n
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In the latest movement in Casa Bonita entertainment workers\u2019 fight for fair treatment and wages, actress and Actors\u2019 Equity Association president Brooke Shields has called out Casa Bonita and its owners, South Park <\/em>creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.<\/p>\n The Actors\u2019 Equity Association represents the Casa Bonita performers, who voted unanimously to unionize in November last year. Despite these efforts, entertainment workers at Casa Bonita are still fighting for fair wages, safety measures, benefits, scheduling and PTO and more, as outlined in a recent bargaining petition<\/a> delivered to Casa Bonita management. <\/p>\n Earlier this month, Casa Bonita eliminated its roaming characters<\/a>, including Amazon Annie, Black Bart, Captain Isabella and the Sheriff. \u201cManagement gave us two weeks\u2019 notice and left it up to us to figure out how to deal with the loss of income,\u201d Casa Bonita performer Joshua Emerson wrote in an October 6 op-ed for Westword<\/em><\/a>. <\/em>\u201cThey broke the law when they did it. The Casa Bonita Entertainment cast voted to have Actors\u2019 Equity represent us as our union twice, both times unanimously. Management is required by federal law to bargain with Equity over making changes to working conditions during ongoing contract negotiations. Actors\u2019 Equity has filed an unfair labor practice over the issue.\u201d<\/p>\n And now the Actors\u2019 Equity Association is stepping in. <\/p>\n \u201cYou probably know that we\u2019ve been in bargaining for their first union contract in quite a while now,\u201d Shields says in a video<\/a> posted on the Casa Bonita United and Actors Equity Instagrams after introducing herself to Parker and Stone. \u201cBut maybe, you don\u2019t know that your restaurant management has been playing really fast and loose with this bargaining process, and it\u2019s just not respectful to the performers who put their all into making Casa Bonita the one-of-a-kind destination that it is.\u201d<\/p>\n Shields goes on to say that the entertainment workers are not making a living wage, \u201clike, actually not.\u201d Casa Bonita United\u2019s bargaining petition states that while the living wage calculator puts living in Denver at over $30 per hour, many members only make $21 per hour. <\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re being paid less than their coworkers who are actually serving the food, and you know, that\u2019s before you factor in tips,\u201d Shields says. (Casa Bonita actually moved to a no-tip structure<\/a> in 2023.)<\/p>\n \u201cSo they\u2019ve not only been hard at work entertaining Casa Bonita guests and spending their volunteer hours in bargaining \u2014 they\u2019ve also been putting their names on a petition,\u201d Shields continues.<\/p>\n The Equity Casa Bonita bargaining unit includes cliff divers, actors, puppeteers and magicians. The Casa Bonita performers got in touch with the Actors\u2019 Equity Association through the \u201cOrganize Your Workplace\u201d form on the union\u2019s website last year. Equity represents 51,000 professional actors and stage managers on Broadway, at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, and in live theater across the United States.<\/p>\n Shields ends the video with a plea to Parker and Stone to look at the petition and take it seriously, \u201cso that we can all put this chapter way behind us. Because without the performers who bring Casa Bonita to life, it\u2019s just a big pink restaurant.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n