At least 50 Cineworld staff in Liverpool have reportedly lost their jobs after the company closed all of its cinemas in during the coronavirus crisis.
Former members of staff have taken to social media to criticise the company, which owns all Cineworld and Picturehouse sites across the country.
Cineworld and Picturehouse staff across the UK have formed a group of 800 workers and on Friday night sent a letter to Cineworld CEO Mooky Greidinger calling for immediate reinstatement.
Delphine Thomas, a former member of staff at Cineworld in Speke, told how over fifty staff members were let go.
All Cineworld and Picturehouse sites across the UK closed on Wednesday in light of the COVID-19 outbreak .
The ECHO understands that on Thursday, Cineworld made mass widespread redundancies and cut pay for retained staff by 60%.
Cineworld staff have said they were not consulted over the plans and that they were informed of the decision via a scripted phone call.
Last year, the cinema chain reported an adjusted profit after tax of £293 million for 2018.
Phillipa Childs, head of Bectu, a union supporting entertainment and media workers, said: "To let people go at a time like this when they have no other possibility of getting a job will only add further to their anguish in the current climate.
"This is not the time to take advantage of the situation and prepare for turning a profit once things start to improve."
On Saturday, Cineworld said that it has offered long serving employees 'partial payments' during the closure, and that employees of more than three years have been offered voluntary redundancy.
A Cineworld spokesperson said: “Like other businesses in the retail and leisure industry we are facing an incredibly challenging time as a consequence of the global coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
"We made a number of offers to our employees earlier this week including partial payments until we are able to re-open cinemas.
"Following the announcement by the government yesterday around the support they are now offering the leisure industry, including cinemas and their employees, we have written to our employees to let them know that we are currently reviewing this and exploring whether there are alternative options.”
