LAKEWOOD, Colo. — Casa Bonita workers — both onstage and backstage — voted unanimously on Friday to unionize with Actors' Equity Association and The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. A joint statementwas sent by the two groups with employees wanting to make the workplace safer and address concerns over pay and communication between workers and management.
"I think that that the real union drive in earnest began around the end of April, beginning of May, because we'd had problems before, but there was just kind of an exacerbation with a particular management team that was just not present to even hear what we were saying," William 'Riley' Holmes, an actor at Casa Bonita, said. "We had issues and we were being ignored."
Inside the iconic Lakewood Mexican restaurant, there are multiple sights to attract visitors of all ages including puppet shows, mariachi bands and cliff divers who make the jump while guests are dining. Holmes shared there are several reasons behind unionizing, including better pay and communication with management along with safety concerns.
"They do it hundreds, thousands of times, after a while it's easy for something to go wrong just once and we don't have currently a system in place," Holmes explained. "If something goes wrong, I mean, yes, we have a backboard there and the divers are always watched by someone who's a lifeguard certified, but there is no emergency action plan, which is something that you need in that kind of situation in case the worst should happen. You don't want to be figuring out how do we handle this when someone's life is really at stake."
Besides the safety of the cliff divers, Holmes said many performers who are guest-facing are "assaulted pretty routinely," and moving forward, wants discussions to be held over proactive steps to ensure employees are not in danger while on the job.
Wage was another point Holmes addressed, as he explained co-workers are not getting paid enough and are struggling to make payments.
"The waitstaff and the bartenders are making about $30 an hour and I want to be completely clear I think they deserve that money, they work incredibly hard," Wage said. "But Trey and Matt have said that is a living wage in Denver, $28 to $30 an hour, that's a living wage. They said they want their employees to have a living wage. Your average entertainer makes $23 an hour, so I don't see how you can square it by saying, this is a living wage."
This is not the first time management has received concerns from employees over better pay and working conditions. Back in July 2023, 50 Casa Bonita employees formed #WeAreTeamCasa calling on ownership for better working conditions and pay.
Michelle Mendenhall was a part of #WeAreTeamCasa. She explained how this effort in 2023 played a role in getting to where they are now.
"We weren't all collectively on board to unionize at that point, but the wheels were in motion, and we had some real momentum going towards that with #WeAreTeamCasa, so it's really cool to see how things transpire, things move on and go forward to the point of being able to unionize," Mendenhall said.
Denver7 reached out to Casa Bonita management regarding the Friday unanimous vote to unionize and was sent the following statement:
"Casa Bonita values all its employees. We respect the rights of our employees and their recent vote to form a union. We look forward to continuing a positive relationship going forward."
As for the next steps, Holmes explained a bargaining committee will be elected to help shape what the contract negotiations will look like and hear the voices of other employees to ensure their concerns are addressed. He hopes this unionization will not only bring a positive change in the workplace, but will also make the experience better for both employees and customers.
"I think the thing that that we really want to emphasize is that we love Casa Bonita," Holmes explained. "Everybody who's just voted to unionize, if we didn't love working there, we would have left, no, we want to unionize Casa [Bonita] because we want to make it a better place for everybody because safety for some of us makes everybody safer."