Coronavirus and Walt Disney World general discussion

[Jwink]

It's semantics - different union contracts require them to use different terms usually not furloughed, but laid off or other euphemisms for "not being paid". It allows them to ensure the person can collect unemployment insurance and they can still hire them back at previous seniority when the need is there.

They have the word furlough... laid off means fired... with no health benefits...

 

[Lilofan]

He’s a skilled technician. It’s hard to find someone with his skill set and they’ll need it for park operations ... ugh I’d rather him be furloughed than laid off

Disney meeting with union at 9am tomorrow to advise on hourly cast members futures. It's all over the news. Disney advised today about managers and non union cast to be furloughed because they didn't have to meet with a union to break this news.

 

[Slpy3270]

Looks like the biggest casualty from the coronavirus and recession will be AMC Theatres.

AMC Theaters Credit Rating Downgraded, Recovery Unlikely Due to Coronavirus Shutdown

Standard & Poors has downgraded the credit rating of AMC Theaters, and the organization says they do not believe that the chain has the capacity to bounce back from the damage done by the novel coronavirus pandemic, which has closed cinemas around the world and led distributors to seek out...

comicbook.com

Should they go bankrupt come fall, movies theaters as we know it will cease to exist.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

W

Why pay for 6 more weeks? Furlough them all and bring them back when needed - with the economy shut down they won't have an issue getting their employees back or finding replacements if needed. I was shocked they paid until 4/19.

Well for 1, it’s in a company’s best interest to treat their employees as good as possible. We are talking about a lot of cast members who have been with the company 20-30 years.

I’m not blaming Disney for making this decision, if there is no end date in site, eventually you pretty much have to do it.

 

[Jwink]

YMMV

What’s that?

 

[Jwink]

Disney meeting with union at 9am tomorrow to advise on hourly cast members futures. It's all over the news. Disney advised today about managers and non union cast to be furloughed because they didn't have to meet with a union to break this news.

So they could still be furloughed? Not just laid off?

 

[Lilofan]

So they could still be furloughed? Not just laid off?

The union cast will find out after Disney meets with the union.

 

[celluloid]

The comment assumes 'no known opening' -- people were going on and on with hopes that Disney was going to keep paying people with no opening on the calendar. It was fantasy. Even the June 1 date would be a stretch to pay thousands idle for 2+ months.

And June 1 was never communicated as an opening.. it's everyone doing mental gymnastics based on a point in the future reservations had to use as a start point. The date would have changed (and will) as the forecast for actually operating changes.

Reality is Disney probably has no targeted date.. just hopes. They are probably focusing on what it means to operate afterwards and to work out what it would take to get to that type of operation. Then they have a timeline.. and can apply it when dates about actual potential opening happen. Then work backwards from that to make it a reality... to know when you need staff, supply chain, etc.

It’s not mental gymnastics to assume that Disney was hoping to be open June 1 if they were taking reservations for June 1.

And offering free dining incentives. No one should call it mental gymnastics as if it was a guess by the customers, it is what it is. Everything was up in the air and they have to try and get money in where they can, especially for the Walt Disney Travel Company Agents who will be working through all of this taking calls and communication. They also are used to making a living off commission, selling vacation packages.

 

[Jwink]

Meaning, I'm commenting generally about union contracts - your specific contract may have unique language about what terminology the company can/can't use in the situation.

(YMMV means "your mileage may vary")

Oh gotcha... but why wouldn’t they then just announce it today along with the other furloughs??? That makes me worried

 

[GoofGoof]

So they could still be furloughed? Not just laid off?

It’s possible. Anything with the unions takes a little longer.

 

[Jwink]

It’s possible. Anything with the unions takes a little longer.

I won’t be able to sleep. I have 2 kids...

 

[Lilofan]

As the other poster suggested, they have to communicate the specifics to several unions on both coasts and answer their questions with their business agents, etc. to be ready to field the countless questions. By taking care of non-union first they both set the precedent and get that out of the way. Again, all speculation of course.

Sounds very logical and making sure all i is dotted and t is crossed.

 

[GoofGoof]

Oh gotcha... but why wouldn’t they then just announce it today along with the other furloughs??? That makes me worried

I won’t be able to sleep. I have 2 kids...

I don’t know anything for sure, but typically with unions a company likes to run anything major like this by the union leaders to get their blessing. In this case the union has very little power (a strike isn’t really an option, at least right now), but out of respect for the process they probably want to still clear it through them. Why would they furlough the non-union workers and not the union ones? It’s most likely just a timing difference in announcing, but I totally understand the stress you would feel over it.

 

[DCBaker]

"Researchers at Mayo Clinic expect to release a test that would tell whether a person has had and recovered from COVID-19 on Monday."

"At Mayo, we hope to have it available as early as next week. We will be doing kind of a slow roll out because, similar to the situation with molecular tests, there's a limited supply of these tests. We're hoping that commercial manufacturers will ramp up here in the next few weeks so that we can make it available much more widely."

Mayo Clinic expects COVID-19 antibody test to be ready Monday

The test shows whether someone had and recovered from COVID-19, and can help public health officials understand the scope of the outbreak and identify people who can safely be in public to help with relief efforts.

www.mprnews.org

 

[MisterPenguin]

Looks like the biggest casualty from the coronavirus and recession will be AMC Theatres.

AMC Theaters Credit Rating Downgraded, Recovery Unlikely Due to Coronavirus Shutdown

Standard & Poors has downgraded the credit rating of AMC Theaters, and the organization says they do not believe that the chain has the capacity to bounce back from the damage done by the novel coronavirus pandemic, which has closed cinemas around the world and led distributors to seek out...

comicbook.com

Should they go bankrupt come fall, movies theaters as we know it will cease to exist.

If there's only one thing I learned from these boards it's this: Apple will buy them out.

 

[CastAStone]

Just a reminder to everyone declaring that this amusement park or that restaurant or this movie theater will go out of business...

There’s a good chance that some of them will go bankrupt (not Disney though).

But in the case of any business that was even remotely heathy pre-COVID, a Private Equity company will buy them out of bankruptcy and the consumer will not see much of a change.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

If there's only one thing I learned from these boards it's this: Apple will buy them out.

How many pages you suppose that thread would get to?

 

[GoofGoof]

Just a reminder to everyone declaring that this amusement park or that restaurant or this movie theater will go out of business...

There’s a good chance that some of them will go bankrupt (not Disney though).

But in the case of any business that was even remotely heathy pre-COVID, a Private Equity company will buy them and the consumer will not see much of a change.

Or chapter 11 bankruptcy. Also mostly seamless to consumers.

 

[flynnibus]

And offering free dining incentives. No one should call it mental gymnastics as if it was a guess by the customers, it is what it is.

Were agents promising the park would be open? No.
Were they telling people that was the first day open? No

They simply were willing to take reservations so the calendar would be ready.

 

[Jwink]

I don’t know anything for sure, but typically with unions a company likes to run anything major like this by the union leaders to get their blessing. In this case the union has very little power (a strike isn’t really an option, at least right now), but out of respect for the process they probably want to still clear it through them. Why would they furlough the non-union workers and not the union ones? It’s most likely just a timing difference in announcing, but I totally understand the stress you would feel over it.
[/QUOTE

thank you for validating how stressful this is for literally everyone