Nothing can break them, no one can make them give their rights away! On July 29, four labor unions representing 14,000 Disneyland workers successfully seized the day, voting to approve a new three-year contract with the House of Mouse. In a statement, Disney Workers Rising bargaining-committee member Ellie Gonzalez celebrated contract gains including “historic wage increases” and “longevity pay that recognizes our years of service to Disney and the critical role we play in making it one of the most profitable companies in the world.” That translates to the biggest wage increases ever earned by Disney’s Anaheim employees, with minimum base-wage rates of $24 and increases of $6.10 an hour over three years. Additionally, the agreement will provide updated sick-leave and attendance policies without fear of retribution for the affected cast members.
The coalition represents workers across Disney’s Anaheim properties, including Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, the Downtown Disney District, and Disney’s three onsite hotels. Their unions — Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Local 83, SEIU-United Service Workers West (SEIU-USWW), Teamsters Local 495, and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 324 — include “cast members” working as custodians, parking attendants, ticket takers, and ride operators, none of whom the parks could operate without. Of all the places for Disney to cut corners, fairly paying workers who do things such as make sure the Dumbos land safely and the Matterhorn doesn’t zoot off the rails should never have been one of them.
This three-year contract agreement comes after 99 percent of the unions’ members voted in favor of authorizing a strike, as 9,000 Disneyland employees’ contract expired in June and 5,000 additional DCA and Downtown Disney employees’ contracts were set to expire in September. To understand just how significant this victory is, might I suggest catching up on the Disneyland episode of Vulture’s podcast Land of the Giants: The Disney Dilemma? Anyway, three cheers for mouse-ification ratification!
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