Labor unions have applauded this year's "summer of strikes" and an unusually high number of work stoppages as a sign of the resurgence of organized labor in the private sector. An August survey by Gallup found that the percentage of Americans who think unions will become stronger in the future than they are today rose from just 19 percent in 2018 to more than a third in 2023.
However, the experience of the employees of Medieval Times in Buena Park is a cautionary tale that warns against hubris and overreach by union leaders.
Medieval Times Entertainment is a privately held company based in Texas. It operates a chain of ten dinner theater venues that feature actors and stunt performers in a show centered around knights on horseback in a jousting tournament.
In November 2022, the employees at the Buena Park location voted to unionize and join the American Guild of Variety Artists. On February 11, the employees began an unfair labor practices strike. They claimed that management had given pay increases to employees at its non-union locations, while the employees represented in collective bargaining by AGVA were left out in the cold.
Collective bargaining offers no guarantees of pay increases or improved working conditions. A strike is an effort to deprive the company of revenue by depriving it of the services of its workforce. In this case, the company brought in performers from its other locations to replace the roughly 30 striking knights, nobles and squires. Performances continued during the strike.
The striking employees were out of work for nine months.
Recently, one of the performers at the Buena Park castle, Michelle Dean, filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board seeking a vote to remove AGVA as the collective bargaining agent for the Medieval Times employees at the Buena Park location. The petition was filed with the assistance of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
Employees at one other Medieval Times location, in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, also voted to join AGVA and there, too, some are now seeking to decertify the union. AGVA is fighting that effort.
A statement released by the National Right to Work Foundation president Mark Mix accused AGVA of resembling "a ruthless tyrant more interested in promoting union bosses' power than what is best for rank-and-file employees."
Facing a potential vote by the Buena Park employees to remove the union as collective bargaining agent, AGVA called an end to the strike, making an "unconditional offer to return to work."
What this means for the employees is that they gained nothing from striking for nine months, collective bargaining will resume, and they have to pay dues to AGVA as a condition of continuing to be employed at Medieval Times.
California is not a right-to-work state, which means employees can be forced to pay dues or fees to a union as a condition of their employment, if their workplace is unionized.
The U.S. Supreme Court said in the 2018 Janus v. AFSCME decision that public-sector workers — employees who work for a government entity including a school district — cannot be forced to pay fees to a union. However, in the private sector, unions can compel employees to pay, even if they receive no visible benefit from union representation.
Labor unions are not always knights in shining armor.
—The Editorial Board, Southern California News Group
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