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The owner of Brixton’s Ritzy cinema today performed a dramatic u-turn, axing controversial plans to sack a third of its workforce which had triggered a boycott and public protests.

Just two days ago, Picturehouse warned staff that as many as 34 jobs were at risk due to higher costs after the success of a staff campaign to convince the Ritzy to take their pay up 21 per cent to £8.80, the current London Living Wage.

News of the potential sackings prompted a public boycott and campaigning from high-profile figures such as the writer Will Self. Now bosses have backed down and said no one working at the Brixton cinema will face redundancy.

Cineworld’s chief executive Mooky Greidinger today spoke out on the issue for the first time, telling the Standard: “Group management was not aware of plans to enter consultations for redundancies at The Ritzy, which is managed by Picturehouse. I am now making this a group matter and I have decided together with Picturehouse management to put an end to the consultation process.”

Two management posts had be due to be axed along with eight supervisors, three technical staff and other front-of-house ushers, putting 34 of the cinema’s 93 staff at risk.

However, asked for clarity about how long the redundancies were off the agenda, Cineworld’s finance director Philip Bowcock said: “There will be no redundancies at this time. You can never say anything is indefinite.

“We operate Picturehouse as an independent, standalone business. Communications can get mixed up, and unfortunately this played out in the public domain.”

Willy Donaghy of media union Bectu said: “We welcome this development but the union will not drop plans for a strike ballot until we get guarantees about our members’ long-term job security.”

He added: “We want to thanks our tens of thousands of supporters who have brought about this change through social media and campaigning.”

Picturehouse’s u-turn came one day after rival group Curzon Cinemas said it had decided to peg all its salaries to the Living Wage. By contrast, the Ritzy’s staff salaries will remain at £8.80 until September 2016.