Medieval Times struggles to put down a revolt by its own workers

The rebellion inside the Southern California castle of Medieval Times has spread to another wing.

Sound and lighting technicians at the castle informed the company Tuesday that they intend to unionize, filing a petition for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board. The cast of the castle show formed a union last year and have been on strike since February.

In a letter stating their intentions, the technicians said they decided to unionize in part because of how management treated them during their co-workers’ walkout, “where we were wrongly accused of sabotage.”

The workers said they plan to join the International Alliance of Stage Employees Local 504, the union that represents stagehands at Disneyland. In their letter, the workers said they want Medieval Times to pay more attention to safety and raise wages to “comply with industry standards.”

“We do not make this decision lightly, and this vote is the result of months of decision-making about the future of our department and the changes we seek,” the letter to management said.

The bargaining unit would include about a dozen employees.

Medieval Times has fought to quell a worker uprising That began last summer, when the show’s cast, gentlemen, and stableboys at his New Jersey castle joined the American Guild of Variety Artists. Artists at the California Castle, in Buena Park, soon he did the same and joined the AGVA.

Until now, none of the technical workers who produce the company’s shows have called for a union election. If the California workers are successful, the effort could be extended to the same group of workers at other castles.

“We had always joked about unionization. A lot of technical jobs (in entertainment) are already unionized,” said Emily Schmidt, sound and lighting technician. “After the strike happened, it became much more serious.”

The cast of the castle show and the knights went on strike over “unfair labor practices” on February 11, accusing the company of bargaining in bad faith and trying to silence them on social media. Much of the bargaining unit refused to work and picketed outside the castle, asking customers not to cross it.

The technicians were not part of the union and therefore continued to work, but Schmidt said many of them supported the strikers for trying to improve their jobs. It was through the castle picket that the sound and lighting technicians met the IATSE staff.

“We have our own valid reasons for doing this,” Schmidt said of the technicians. “That said, I don’t know if we would have had the drive to unionize if the events of the strike hadn’t happened.”

Medieval Times has strongly opposed worker unionization efforts. In New Jersey, the company deployed an anti-union consultant at a cost of $3,200 per day, plus expenses, to discourage union formation there. Managers also held meetings at the California castle with the goal of crushing the union effort.

In October, the company filed a lawsuit against AGVA alleging trademark infringement due to the name and logo the workers had adopted for their union, Medieval Times Performers United. The company later appeared to have filed trademark infringement claims against social media accounts maintained by union workers at the California castle. The workers’ TikTok account was banned.

The workers filed unfair labor practice charges with the labor board, saying the company was trying to intimidate them into silence.

The sound and lighting workers requested that the company voluntarily recognize their union with IATSE, an unlikely scenario, considering the company’s opposition to previous efforts. The labor board is more likely to schedule a secret ballot election as long as enough workers sign union cards.

An IATSE representative said the union had the backing of an overwhelming majority of workers in the proposed bargaining unit.

In their letter to management, the workers said they were “proud and excited to join an organization whose members are treated with dignity and respect.”