Arcade Workers at South Park Creators Casa Bonita Restaurant Unionize

Workers in the arcade department of the immersive restaurant Casa Bonita, owned by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, have gained voluntary union recognition after a two-month long organizing effort. 

The eight-person unit of workers unanimously signed authorization cards in May asking for union representation from IATSE Local 7, with the goal of achieving greater job security, fair wages and consistent scheduling at the Denver-area restaurant. Casa Bonita management agreed to voluntarily recognize the arcade members on July 1 after a third-party card check. 

This comes after an 80-person unit, including 60 performers and about 20 crewmembers, had started a drive to unionize with Actors’ Equity and IATSE, respectively, last fall, over safety concerns and better pay, among other issues. 

The restaurant, based in Lakewood, Colorado, a suburb of Denver, first opened in 1974 and then reopened in 2024 after being bought out of bankruptcy by Parker and Stone, who had set a 2003 episode of South Park at Casa Bonita. The restaurant features cliff divers, actors, puppeteers, magicians and more.

The employees initially pushing for unionization did not receive voluntary recognition, and filed for elections with the National Labor Relations Board. Both groups unanimously voted to unionize with Actors’ Equity and IATSE as part of the elections. However, even after those wins, Colorado law dictates that the groups must hold another election, called an all-union agreement election, to authorize the union agreements. The crew members held their election in December 2024 and also prevailed there. Actors’ Equity members are currently preparing for that election.

The arcade workers joined the existing IATSE bargaining group, so they did not have to go through the separate election process.

“All we want is a better work environment and by joining together with our co-workers we feel like it’s truly possible,” said Dayanara Lopez, member leader and Casa Bonita Arcade Captain. 

The South Park creators have also been in the news for threatening legal action and accusing Paramount president Jeff Shell of meddling in contract negotiations with Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix.