The Medieval Times Union Campaign Is Over

The union for Medieval Times workers informed the dinner-theater company Wednesday that it no longer intends to represent employees at two castles that organized, bringing an end to a colorful labor campaign that excited union supporters and inspired endless jokes about serfs and lords.

Workers at the chain’s castles in Northern New Jersey and Southern California both voted to form unions in 2022 with the American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA), an affiliate of the AFL-CIO. But neither group managed to secure a collective bargaining agreement with Medieval Times, as it waged an aggressive counter-campaign to undermine the union effort.

AGVA declined to represent the Medieval Times workers after it became evident the union no longer had the necessary support to succeed in its contract battles, said Erin Zapcic, an actor who plays the queen at the Buena Park, California, castle and was integral to the organizing effort.

“Their intention was not just to beat us; it was to destroy us,” Zapcic said of the company. “I’m certain we cost this company millions of dollars [in legal costs] and they were willing to continue to spend that money to get rid of us.”

Medieval Times representatives did not respond to repeated inquiries from HuffPost regarding the union campaign and the company’s reactions to it.

The demise of the Medieval Times campaign is a reminder that winning a union election is not the end of the battle, but is often just the beginning. Employees at other formerly non-union companies like Amazon, Starbucks, REI and Trader Joe’s have recently notched major election victories and now find themselves in bruising contract battles with their employers. It sometimes takes years for unions to win a collective