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Cliff-diving, puppetry, and gorilla-costumed performers South Park Creators are protesting against restaurants.
co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone Bought and renovated Denver Iconic Casa Bonita Restaurant in 2021The historic Pink Palace is known for offering a surreal dining experience with rotating characters, arcade games, and waterfalls – but beyond that HalloweenThe restaurant will miss its key players.
All 57 employees who entertain guests at the kitschy venue are going on strike starting Thursday, after restaurant management reportedly walked away from contract negotiations, according to the Actors’ Equity Association, which represents the entire cast. Artists are fighting for better wages, safety measures and other benefits.
“CASA management came to the table today to offer an additional 11 cents over its previous unfair pay proposal and a much reduced amount for future layoff protections,” lead negotiator Andrea Hochen announced Wednesday.
“Despite that humiliation, the negotiating team made major compromises to try to get a deal. And then Casa Bonita walked away from the table without giving any answers.”
The statement continued, “We know they can pay the wages we are asking because they already pay servers and bartenders basically the same wages. Their insistence on paying artists less than a dollar an hour reflects a choice and philosophy of devaluing artists.”
according to living wage calculatorAn adult living in Denver needs to earn at least $26 an hour to support themselves. For someone supporting a family, the costs are even higher. According to their bargaining petition, many members of Casa Bonita United earn only $21 an hour.
Artists began contract negotiations in April after voting to form a union last November. Last month, Casa Bonita United filed unfair labor practices charges against the restaurant after it drastically cut workers’ shifts to accommodate a Halloween pop-up event for the entire month of October.
A spokesperson for the restaurant said in a statement, “At Casa Bonita, we value all of our team members and their well-being. As a policy we do not comment on ongoing labor negotiations.”
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Parker and Stone did not return immediately IndependentRequest for comment. Last week, the president of the Actors’ Equity Association Brooke Shields calls out billionaires to the union dispute in a video on Instagram.
Shields urged the creators to take a stand, saying, “It’s not disrespectful to the artists who put everything into making Casa Bonita a unique destination.”
The unionized artists are holding a sit-in outside the restaurant starting at 11 a.m. local time on Thursday and are inviting supporters to join them through Saturday.
The restaurant plans to stay open and offer free drinks or arcade tickets to guests affected by the strike denver post Informed.