A choose on the Nationwide Labor Relations Board dominated Thursday that Medieval Occasions broke the regulation repeatedly because it tried to fend off a union organizing marketing campaign at its castles in New Jersey and California.
The dinner-theater chain’s violations included firing a union supporter, threatening to withhold raises, attempting to get the union’s social media accounts shut down and submitting a trademark lawsuit towards the union – all actions meant to discourage employees from organizing, in line with NLRB Administrative Legislation Choose Lauren Esposito.
Esposito ordered that Medieval Occasions “cease and desist” its illegal habits, provide reinstatement to the fired employee and reimburse the union for its litigation prices within the trademark lawsuit.
Medieval Occasions didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The corporate’s knights, actors and stablehands launched a union marketing campaign in 2022 geared toward boosting wages and bettering security requirements round its dinner reveals, which function reside stunts on horseback. Staff managed to unionize two of the 9 U.S. castles via NLRB elections, becoming a member of the American Guild of Selection Artists, or AGVA.
“The ruling validates what Medieval Times union activists maintained all along: that the company was breaking the law in an effort to crush the organizing campaign.”
However Medieval Occasions resisted the organizing marketing campaign and tried to stop it from spreading to different places, as HuffPost reported on the time. Staff filed a slew of unfair labor observe expenses alleging they have been retaliated towards for supporting the union effort.
In 2022, Medieval Occasions sued the union over the identify and brand for its marketing campaign, Medieval Occasions Performers United, claiming it infringed on the corporate’s mental property — a transfer the union referred to as “unlawful thuggery.” The criticism was ultimately thrown out.
Medieval Occasions additionally managed to get the union’s TikTok account shut down after submitting an mental property criticism with the social media platform, as HuffPost reported on the time. It filed an identical, although unsuccessful, declare with Fb.
MediaNews Group/Orange County Register through Getty Photos through Getty Photos
Esposito wrote that the trademark lawsuit was designed to “retaliate against the Union for engaging in its successful organizing campaign,” and its outreach to TikTok and Fb was an try and “interfere with, restrain, and coerce employees” by muzzling them on social media.
She additionally discovered that Medieval Occasions’ CEO, Perico Montaner, personally violated the regulation when he advised staff he must withhold raises as a result of the New Jersey employees had petitioned for a union vote. She deemed his remarks “unlawfully coercive.”
Esposito’s ruling can’t do a lot to assist the union marketing campaign, which dissolved final 12 months. The AGVA notified the corporate it now not supposed to symbolize employees on the unionized New Jersey and California castles after it turned clear the union now not had sufficient help to win a protracted contract combat.
However the ruling validates what Medieval Occasions union activists maintained all alongside: that the corporate was breaking the regulation in an effort to crush the organizing marketing campaign.
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Medieval Occasions is prone to enchantment Esposito’s ruling to the NLRB’s board in Washington, the place the case may sit for months or doubtlessly years ready for evaluate. President Donald Trump just lately fired one of many board’s Democratic members, eliminating its quorum and making it unable to challenge choices.
