Union Files Unfair Labor Practice Charge Against Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s Casa Bonita

This hasn’t been the best week for Trey Parker and Matt Stone. After making headlines for missing their South Park deadline for just the second time in the show’s 28-year history (possibly due to corporate interference, if internet conspiracy theorists are to believed), now the duo’s giant pink novelty restaurant is at the center of a major labor dispute. 

Parker and Stone famously purchased Casa Bonita, the Disneyland of Mexican eateries, back in 2021. They ended up spending roughly “infinity dollars” renovating the iconic Colorado attraction, a process that was documented in the movie ¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!

Weeks after the documentary was released, Casa Bonita’s in-house performers, including their “cliff divers, puppeteers, actors and magicians” moved to unionize with IATSE and Actors’ Equity Association. They were ultimately successful, and are in the process of attempting to negotiate their first union contract, seeking “fair pay” and benefits, as well as better enforcement of safety guidelines to protect workers from harassment. 

Even the actor who plays “Manbearpig” is working hard to secure more “respectful working conditions.”

But the restaurant just announced that several key roles are going to be eliminated from Casa Bonita altogether, a move that’s being called an “illegal” act of retaliation by the union.

According to a new press release from Actors’ Equity Association, the restaurant has informed them and Casa Bonita United “of the imminent elimination of beloved roaming characters Black Bart, Captain Isabella, Amazon Ani and the Sheriff.”

Anyone who has been to the restaurant knows that the full Casa Bonita experience involves interacting with these legacy characters, who are an important part of the eatery’s mythology. The same performers were even highlighted in the climactic happy ending of the documentary.

“Without engaging in bargaining with Actors’ Equity Association as required by the National Labor Relations Act, Casa Bonita management has unilaterally eliminated over 1,000 hours of available shifts for unionized employees,” Andrea Hoeschen, Actors’ Equity Association’s assistant executive director and general counsel, stated. “This is a foolish, retaliatory and downright illegal decision that both harms the workers who make Casa Bonita special and deprives patrons of the magic of the Casa Bonita experience.”

Hoeschen went on to reveal that “Actors’ Equity Association has filed an Unfair Labor Practice with the National Labor Relations Board for the above violations and calls on Casa Bonita management to reverse their unlawful course of action immediately.”

Hopefully this all gets resolved before the characters get the same treatment as Casa Bonita’s old asbestos.