AMHERST — Employees with the Amherst Cinema Workers United are pushing for salary changes to the existing contract with management of the nonprofit cinema so that the 13 members of the front-of-house staff, who oversee the box office and concessions stand, can earn a living wage.

Following a rally in downtown Amherst in late September to bring attention to the ongoing contract negotiations to passers-by, the union workers continue their ask for the living wage, as calculated for Hampshire County workers in MIT’s Living Wage Calculator.

“To be paid a living wage here at Amherst Cinema I hope would set a precedent for other places in our area to also pay their workers fairly,” employee Alexis Hott, said in a statement. “I would hope this win would ripple out to raise the bar, and to demonstrate that we as workers have so much power, that it is worthwhile to fight and demand more collectively.”

The cinema’s board of directors issued a statement noting that the union was voluntarily recognized without contention in 2022 and a provision of a contract quickly reached and signed in 2023 was to have a wage reopener and bargaining sessions focused on salaries in advance of the 2025 calendar year.

“This process is part of the cinema’s unwavering support of the well-being of all its employees, who are essential to our success as an independent, nonprofit arts and education center,” the statement reads. “As a nonprofit cinema, not corporate, we are fiercely independent and courageous in the choices we make in how we serve our community.”

The contract, management says, not only provided a substantial wage increase at the outset, but included a wide range of benefits and protections regarding working conditions. The cinema has also continued to provide regular wage increases for the workers, 12 of whom are part time.

The union contends that their wages are going backward, that in 2020, Amherst Cinema front-of-house starting wages were 25% above minimum wage, while in 2024, starting wages are $15.25 hourly, just 3% above the minimum wage and 32% below a living wage of $22.92. Supervisors currently earn $18.36 hourly, or 20% below living wage.

Moving all front-of-house staff to living wages would cost the cinema an estimated $67,000 per year, Hott said.

Amherst Cinema’s statement also cautions about the post-pandemic period being challenging for all nonprofit organizations, especially the theatrical exhibition sector.