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Staff at one of Glasgow’s busiest cinemas are to begin strike action to protest against working conditions, wages and lack of trade union recognition.

Workers at the Vue in St Enoch’s Centre told BBC Scotland News they felt they had to act for a number of reasons, including the company not paying for employees to get transport home after late night shifts which end about 02:00.

The action is believed to the first in Scotland at a cinema and is scheduled to last until 7 January.

The cinema chain said screenings of films like Wicked For Good and Zootropolis 2 at the venue would continue as normal, with temporary staff brought in.

Members of the Unite union voted in favour of striking last month, and about 50 employees are expected to take part in the protest, including picketing the cinema.

Yusuf Kidwai, the lead convenor of the strikes, said frustration with conditions had been growing for some time at the chain.

He told BBC Scotland News: “There is a lot of turnover in hospitality, so there is not a strong union culture in the industry. That’s why it’s amazing what we have been able to do here.

“Vue has told us to complain through the proper channels but we have done that, and nothing has been done.”

Mr Kidwai, who has worked at the St Enoch cinema since autumn 2024, said workers want four things from the dispute – to be paid the real living wage, for trade unions to be recognised by Vue, for staff to have better contracted hours, and for paid transport home after late shifts.

He added: “We have screenings that go on until two or three in the morning, and that asks a lot of staff.

“The area around Argyle Street is not safe at night, and you have a lot of young students left to either walk home through unsafe areas or spend half the day’s wages on a taxi.”

A planning committee meeting at Glasgow City Council recently heard how the area around St Enoch’s often suffered anti-social behaviour.

Mr Kidwai said he believed workers trained at another Vue cinema would be brought in to replace the striking workers.

Vue is one of the biggest cinema chains in the country, and its city centre venue one of Glasgow’s largest, after the closure of Cineworld earlier this year.

Founder and chief executive Tim Richards recently said the company had returned to pre-pandemic trading levels this year.

A spokesperson for Vue said: “Our teams are at the heart of our business and are highly valued. We continue to have regular meetings and open dialogue with site team members.”

Samsung Electronics and KT Corporation (KT) announced they have successfully validated AI-based radio access network (AI-RAN) optimization technology on KT’s commercial network, confirming that stable, uninterrupted service can be delivered across a range of real-world environments. Following simulation-based verification completed in June, this marks the first successful demonstration of the technology on a live commercial network.

As user-perceived communication quality becomes a key priority for telecom operators, Samsung has been developing AI-RAN optimization technologies to meet this need.

Traditionally, the same network configuration has been applied to all user devices — such as smartphones — connected to a base station. When users move through weak-signal areas or travel at high speeds, the connection between their devices and the base station may weaken or drop.

The AI-RAN optimization technology verified by the two companies automatically applies optimal configurations for each user — rather than for the network as a whole — based on real-time wireless conditions. The system leverages AI to learn from issues tied to a user’s movement paths and usage patterns, identifying recurring trends to predict potential problems. By proactively preventing disruptions, the technology helps users avoid the connectivity issues they experienced in the past.

Samsung Research of Samsung Electronics and the Future Network Laboratory at KT Corporation conducted a field test with approximately 18,000 users in select areas of Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, featuring varying environmental conditions. The AI-RAN technology was applied to users who had repeatedly experienced service disruptions, allowing the teams to identify recurring issue patterns and develop user-specific network configurations. The companies then compared the number of disconnections before and after applying these configurations on the commercial network. The results showed a significant drop in connection failures among users who had faced frequent disruptions, as well as a notable decrease in issues for other users in the region.

AI-RAN optimization will be essential as the industry prepares for the 6G era, when data usage is expected to surge and networks must deliver stable service across a wide range of communication environments. Because the improvement in communication quality was noticeable at the user level, this achievement is expected to be recognized as a leading example of AI-RAN technology. Moving forward, the two companies plan to expand validation across additional commercial networks and further advance 6G technology.

“This is a major milestone that shows how AI can improve user experience on real-world commercial networks,” said JinGuk Jeong, Executive Vice President and Head of the Advanced Communications Research Center, Samsung Research at Samsung Electronics. “Through close collaboration with KT, we will continue shaping and validating the next generation of AI-driven communication technologies.”

“This achievement demonstrates that AI can transform network operations around users,” said Jong-Sik Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of Future Network Laboratory at KT Corporation. “Together with Samsung, we will continue developing customized optimization technologies to deliver stable, uninterrupted service and drive core 6G capabilities that create new value for customers.”

Samsung is leading AI-driven 6G innovation through its research on AI-RAN technology, integrating advanced AI capabilities into wireless networks. The company will continue to strengthen collaboration with both domestic and global operators and partners to further enhance user experiences in next-generation communications.