News Disney World Cast Member unions to begin week of negotiations for wage increases, healthcare costs and more

[mkt]

WDW Cast Members deserve to be paid exactly what their skills are worth in the marketplace.

I'm glad we agree.

Especially since the marketplace is comprised of suppliers and consumers, in this case the CM's being the suppliers and Disney being the consumer.

Let the free market dictate. If the suppliers raise their prices, it's up to Disney to accept it, remain short staffed, or to cut corners even more.

But only one of those choices doesn't negatively impact the guest experience. The same guests, who in the free market, have other choices of vacation destinations.

 

[Piebald]

I wonder what this does for all the poop wages in Central Florida. EMTs and medical assistants still make like $13 an hour and teachers are paid criminally low. I still get pharmacy tech open positions emails from a long time ago and I'll look at the pay and be like

 

[kingdead]

I wonder what this does for all the poop wages in Central Florida. EMTs and medical assistants still make like $13 an hour and teachers are paid criminally low. I still get pharmacy tech open positions emails from a long time ago and I'll look at the pay and be like

That's everywhere, though. I'm looking at teacher's pay scales in a very nice, very wealthy suburban school system and it would impossible to live anywhere in the county itself without a partner or roommates, even with a master's degree. Extremely skilled job but you'd still be living that Disney CM lifestyle.

 

[Piebald]

That's everywhere, though. I'm looking at teacher's pay scales in a very nice, very wealthy suburban school system and it would impossible to live anywhere in the county itself without a partner or roommates, even with a master's degree. Extremely skilled job but you'd still be living that Disney CM lifestyle.

It sounds terrible, but the only teachers I know (mid 30s) who are still left teaching are basically women in a dual income household or single and still have financial support from their parents.

Orlando cost of living has risen so much I don't know how people do it sometimes. The Moving To Orlando groups on Facebook are depressing. I wonder if those people realize their obsession with living near Disney is pricing out Disney workers.

 

[mkt]

I wonder what this does for all the poop wages in Central Florida. EMTs and medical assistants still make like $13 an hour and teachers are paid criminally low. I still get pharmacy tech open positions emails from a long time ago and I'll look at the pay and be like

Think of it this way.

My wife is an attorney. That's 7 years of postsecondary education, plus (in her case) a yearlong clerkship and 18 months of studying and taking licensing tests in two jurisdictions.

The State of Florida has tried to recruit her several times to be a state prosecutor in Miami. They pay $41k. She earns multiples of that already in the private sector without worrying about retribution from criminals she might have put in jail.

The point is that public employees (other than university football coaches ) are almost all underpaid.

 

[Alanzo]

It sounds terrible, but the only teachers I know (mid 30s) who are still left teaching are basically women in a dual income household or single and still have financial support from their parents.

Orlando cost of living has risen so much I don't know how people do it sometimes. The Moving To Orlando groups on Facebook are depressing. I wonder if those people realize their obsession with living near Disney is pricing out Disney workers.

In some parts of the country there is very little desire for governments to actively compete for quality teachers and it's reflected in their pay. Teaching in these parts of the country is a "job" for mostly women that they quit after they have kids or move on to something better paying or more fulfilling.

Rinse, wash, repeat.

That being said, Florida is in the middle of the pack here. If it's that bad in Orlando, I wonder what it's like in (most of) the rest of the South.

 

[Serpico Jones]

It sounds terrible, but the only teachers I know (mid 30s) who are still left teaching are basically women in a dual income household or single and still have financial support from their parents.

Orlando cost of living has risen so much I don't know how people do it sometimes. The Moving To Orlando groups on Facebook are depressing. I wonder if those people realize their obsession with living near Disney is pricing out Disney workers.

I live in Miami, Florida. The cost of living down here is even worse. It’s abusive.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

WDW Cast Members deserve to be paid exactly what their skills are worth in the marketplace.

The marketplace can be wrong though. The marketplace in China pays crazy low and uses child labor.

Previously, the marketplace in the USA put workers in dangerous conditions.

 

[Piebald]

I live in Miami, Florida. The cost of living down here is even worse. It’s abusive.

I'm from Fort Lauderdale so I'm well aware. It's not much better though in Orlando when compared to the wages.

 

[Rich Brownn]

I live in Miami, Florida. The cost of living down here is even worse. It’s abusive.

I lived there for a while. The only people who can afford to really live there are doctors, lawyers and drug runners

 

[Alanzo]

The marketplace can be wrong though. The marketplace in China pays crazy low and uses child labor.

Previously, the marketplace in the USA put workers in dangerous conditions.

American progressives fought, some giving their lives, to gain the popular support for government regulations against child labor and for workplace safety regulations. Unregulated capitalism on its own will get away everything legally possible, and sometimes illegal things too.

 

[eliza61nyc]

LOL, I've got three words for everyone. NEW YORK CITY. My youngest pays 2700 month for a shoebox. Lol now he's a single 20 some thing loving having zero responsibility with a roommate but I shake my head at rent prices

 

[Alanzo]

LOL, I've got three words for everyone. NEW YORK CITY. My youngest pays 2700 month for a shoebox. Lol now he's a single 20 some thing loving having zero responsibility with a roommate but I shake my head at rent prices

Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded!

 

[_caleb]

When Disney hires a CM, they do so with a fair amount of marketing speak. CMs may take a job thinking the pay is fair, but then, after a few months of experience in the actual role, decide Disney is under-paying them. Why shouldn’t they try to renegotiate their pay?

Also, what seemed like fair pay for certain jobs just a few years ago isn’t fair anymore due to rising costs of living. Why shouldn’t CMs try to renegotiate?

Disney has long assumed they could keep pay low because there was an infinite pool of people they could underpay and that front line CMs were all replaceable. This is extremely poor management. The cots to find, onboard, and train new CMs is quite high for the employer. The cost to transition into a new job (and all the life change that goes into that) is routinely under-estimated by employees who are excited about a new job (especially one at Disney).

In any case, negotiations like this are how the “market value” of CMs is determined. It’s not just “what Disney is willing to pay,” but also, “what workers are willing to work/stay for.”

 

[Polkadotdress]

You are paid by the value you create not by length of service.

Unless you are covered by a union then you are paid by length of service.

 

[kingdead]

The marketplace can be wrong though. The marketplace in China pays crazy low and uses child labor.

Previously, the marketplace in the USA put workers in dangerous conditions.

They have child labor here too, that's how they get kids out of migrant camps. The "sponsor" in the US hires them out to work whereever they need cheap labor that no one else will do for the pay. There was just a big NYT article about it.

 

[Lilofan]

I lived there for a while. The only people who can afford to really live there are doctors, lawyers and drug runners

Who do you think built the Miami skyline ( money laundering capital and still is ) in the crazy 1980s?

 

[Lilofan]

I wonder what this does for all the poop wages in Central Florida. EMTs and medical assistants still make like $13 an hour and teachers are paid criminally low. I still get pharmacy tech open positions emails from a long time ago and I'll look at the pay and be like

That's insanity. An EMT earning $13 per hour and the unions trying to convince WDW to start cast at $17 per hour in the theme parks.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

That's insanity. An EMT earning $13 per hour and the unions trying to convince WDW to start cast at $17 per hour in the theme parks.

I just did a search and EMT’s are starting at $16. Now I personally think EMT’s should be getting a lot more since they are, you know, SAVING LIVES, but that’s a different debate.

 

[_caleb]

Nearly all CM jobs involve much more than just pushing buttons or directing traffic. “Frontline” CMs are how Disney interfaces with guests in the parks. It would be a far better business decision to have well-compensated, experienced, long-term CMs representing the company and making guest relations decisions than to have inexperienced, easily-frustrated, hastily-trained, poorly-paid folks working in this capacity.