CINEMA workers staged a second strike in two weeks yesterday in a long-running dispute for the London Living Wage (LLW) by calling on the British Film Institute (BFI) to break ties with the cinema’s owners.

Staff members of the Ritzy cinema in Brixton, south London, demanded that Picturehouse, owned by Cineworld, pay them enough to live in the capital.

The strike coincides with the BFI London Film Festival, that the Ritzy was due to host events for.

But workers closed it for the day to pressure BFI to abandon its connections with their bosses.

Members of entertainment union Bectu rallied outside London Film Festival venues and were also expected to protest alongside the red carpet of a premiere screening of La La Land at the Odeon in Leicester Square.

Strikers are calling for the LLW of £9.40 an hour, sick pay for all workers, maternity and paternity pay and slight pay rises for supervisors, managers, chefs, projectionists and sound technicians.

Two weeks ago, workers went on strike for the first time this year in the long-running dispute because previous industrial action only helped to marginally increase wages.

In the summer of 2014, they went on strike 13 times before being given a 26 per cent pay rise — but are still being paid below the LLW.

Kelly Rogers, 24, said: “We’re out again because we’re still being paid poverty wages. Many of us pay up to 75 per cent of our income on rent.

“When we’re ill we have to choose between calling in sick and making rent that month. We’re asking for the basics here — enough to live on and dignity at work.”

Renowned film director Ken Loach championed the Ritzy workers for standing up against rich bosses and said that they could easily pay the LLW.

“The Ritzy strikers are heroic,” he said at his premiere of ‘I, Daniel Blake,’ in Liverpool on the same day as the first strike.

He added: “Picturehouse is owned by Cineworld which is a big multinational corporation. They make fortunes.

“The idea that they pay starvation wages because they can get people who are desperate for work is absolutely shocking. Victory to the Ritzy strikers.”

On Thursday, Bectu members at Hackney Picturehouse voted 100 per cent in favour of strike action on a 58 per cent turn out for the same demands and for their union to be recognised.