Celebrations Dinner Theatre employees vote to strike

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This article was published 29/08/2023 (1114 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The show likely won’t go on, after 30 Celebrations Dinner Theatre employees voted unanimously to go on strike next week.

The unionized workers — including some actors who also serve tables, as well as other operations staff — plan to set up a picket line beginning next Tuesday; the current production of Mamma Mio is scheduled to end Sept. 10.

Jeff Traeger, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 832, said the workers deserve a pay raise, but theatre owner Act Three Entertainment refuses to consider anything above the provincial minimum wage.

“They actually have not had a deal or any change of wages or working conditions for three years,” Traeger said Tuesday.

“They have been working without a contract for three years. This is a group that understood what their employer faced during the pandemic and they waited patiently for the company to recover. “Now they say the theatre is busier than it has ever been and there are more shows. It’s time for them to show their appreciation to the workers.”

Bob Cunningham, president of Act Three, could not be reached for comment.

The company says on its website that its next show, The Wedding Singer: 1999, has been postponed “due to unforeseen circumstances.

“We hope that this postponement will be brief, but at this time we do not have an exact date.”

It says anyone who booked a ticket for a performance during the scheduled first three weeks of the show can get a refund or a hold date credit.

Celebrations has been entertaining — and feeding — audiences for 30 years in Winnipeg with musical parodies of movies and television shows.

The company was owned for almost three decades by WOW Hospitality’s Doug Stephen and WOW employee Janet Cunningham.

But in 2020, Stephen decided to leave the dinner theatre business and Cunningham became sole owner of Celebrations in Winnipeg, as well as Jubilations Dinner Theatres in Calgary and Edmonton and Aussie Rules Piano Bar in Calgary.

Traeger said the change in ownership may be why the union is finding it difficult to persuade the company to negotiate.

“WOW Hospitality might have been a more experienced operation and have a better understanding of labour relations,” he said.

Traeger said the union doesn’t represent kitchen staff or cast members who don’t wait on tables.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

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