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

[TrainsOfDisney]

Your insight is extraordinary…I’m fully aware of the size of TWDC…whether you’re a mom & Pop business or a multibillion business, the view from the other side of the counter is still the same.

Not at all. It’s like saying the farmer selling apples on the side of the road is the same as the CEO of Apple. Completely different worlds that have very little in common.

 

[Smiley/OCD]

Not at all. It’s like saying the farmer selling apples on the side of the road is the same as the CEO of Apple. Completely different worlds that have very little in common.

Ok…customer service and satisfaction is the same whether your selling apples or i-phones… if your product quality, knowledge and attitude sucks, so will your business. You don’t need an MBA to figure that out…

 

[MR.Dis]

Being a right to work state doesn’t mean Disney can just drop the collective bargaining agreements. More workers doesn’t fix issues such as housing supply.

Right to work means Disney can replace union worker with non union workers. Numerous ways to get around the collective bargaining agreements, like wait for the current one to expire and NOT agreeing to an extension. As for housing, like I mentioned before I have been in the mortgage business for 40 years. While there is a current shortage, that does not mean in 5 years from now when this contract expires that there has been massive building in the area. Rule of supply and demand. You appear to be knowledgable in many areas and surely know how cyclical things are. Do you trust Disney management?

 

[Mr. Moderate]

Now come on. THIS is going to result in price hikes? THIS? Maybe the excuse is thrown out there for this to cause it, but lets be real, they have been astronomically increasing prices since Iger took over at least, and finding new and sneakier ways to do so. The amount needed to be hiked to cover this at current prices are legit things you wouldn't even notice. I bet the money they generate from Genie + would cover another $2 per cast member. Same with the cost for parking at hotels/elimination of Magic Express. Yeah, prices will go up, cause that's what Iger does. This is not the reason for it, just more of an excuse.

You sound a little angry at my post and I didn’t say I was happy with what Disney most likely will do, just aware of how these companies work.

You have to realize that those on the top, the wealthiest in our society, don’t want less for them in order to make sure others below them have more. The wealthy and powerful want more for them and aren’t going to settle for anything less than that. Sadly it’s the way our society is and has been and there’s no way that Disney Corp isn’t going to hike prices. The executives, the board members, and shareholders aren’t going to be happy with less revenue in their pockets and increased spending. Greed is the way with those at the top and something will have to give in order to pacify them. Sadly, it’s the way our economy works and just because I say this, doesn’t mean I’m in agreement with it or think it’s right. I support the cast members and feel this raise should have been long ago. I just was pointing out the reality of what most likely will happen. I hope that Disney won’t hike prices and actually roll back some of the greedy policies they implemented these past couple of years, under the Iger regime. I won’t hold my breath though.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

I just was pointing out the reality of what most likely will happen.

Prices at WDW will certainly go up. But that’s always the case. Disney+ loses money, so MK tickets go up. If they only raised ticket prices by that $5.50 - that would be fantastic news.

 

[GhostHost1000]

Prices at WDW will certainly go up. But that’s always the case. Disney+ loses money, so MK tickets go up. If they only raised ticket prices by that $5.50 - that would be fantastic news.

If only the theme parks didn’t have to pay for so many other Disney owed decisions

 

[MrPromey]

I think you missed my point, Disney can’t just pick up and move to an area with cheap labor so they have no choice but to pay the wages demanded in the area they’re in. That will be true until they aren’t profitable anymore or it’s more profitable to build elsewhere, then they’ll close and rebuild somewhere else. Only then will the union lose its upper hand, and it’s unfortunately something we’ve see over and over.

There was a time car manufacturing was like this because it would be too expensive to build new plants, but they reached a breaking point and did it. The same is true of all industries, everyone, even Disney, will have a breaking point where it becomes cheaper to build new buildings than to pay ever increasing wages.

(And the wages have doubled over the last ten years, that rate of growth isn’t sustainable, $10 to 20 by 2025 can be absorbed, $20 to 40 by 2035 could likely even be absorbed, but $40 to $80 by 2045 and they likely close the doors, that’s an obviously exaggerated example but meant to show there’s a breaking point, even at Disney.)

Another words, watch out Orlando! Some day down the road, Disney may be pulling up stakes and relocating WDW to India!

 

[MrPromey]

Your insight is extraordinary…I’m fully aware of the size of TWDC…whether you’re a mom & Pop business or a multibillion business, the view from the other side of the counter is still the same.

Really?

No offense but I'm going to just hazard a guess that Iger has a better view than you do.

Not just out his home and office windows but in more important ways, too.

Have we forgotten the specific timing around his previous (sudden) departure as CEO?

 

[MrPromey]

You sound a little angry at my post and I didn’t say I was happy with what Disney most likely will do, just aware of how these companies work.

You have to realize that those on the top, the wealthiest in our society, don’t want less for them in order to make sure others below them have more. The wealthy and powerful want more for them and aren’t going to settle for anything less than that. Sadly it’s the way our society is and has been and there’s no way that Disney Corp isn’t going to hike prices. The executives, the board members, and shareholders aren’t going to be happy with less revenue in their pockets and increased spending. Greed is the way with those at the top and something will have to give in order to pacify them. Sadly, it’s the way our economy works and just because I say this, doesn’t mean I’m in agreement with it or think it’s right. I support the cast members and feel this raise should have been long ago. I just was pointing out the reality of what most likely will happen. I hope that Disney won’t hike prices and actually roll back some of the greedy policies they implemented these past couple of years, under the Iger regime. I won’t hold my breath though.

As a shareholder, I'm still waiting for my cut of the Figment Popcorn bucket sales.

I'm sure my check will be in the mail any day now.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Another words, watch out Orlando! Some day down the road, Disney may be pulling up stakes and relocating WDW to India!

Nothing that extreme, but they could move to a cheap area in the south (Mississippi or Alabama for example), build new parks and resorts from scratch, and most of us would flock there without giving Orlando or the CMs left behind a second thought.

The more likely scenario is the long talked about fifth gate never happens and that money gets spent elsewhere, same with resort and park expansion in FL, that money is now better spent elsewhere where the return is better.

 

[MrPromey]

Nothing that extreme, but they could move / expand to a cheap area in the south (Mississippi or Alabama for example), build new parks and resorts from scratch, and most of us would flock there without giving Orlando or the CMs left behind a second thought.

We'll have to agree to disagree on seeing Mississippi or Alabama becoming top international tourist destinations... for a variety of reasons but lets say they do.

Then what?

It was Disney that created the service economy in central Florida that is now struggling. It was Disney that created theme-park land that so many people wanted to retire to and then, post-pandemic out-of-state work-from-home at that drove up local costs.

Huge parts of the two states you just mentioned are already financially depressed. What happens when Disney turns their new home into the next Orlando?

Where do they pick up stakes and move to then?

North Dakota?

There's a huge difference between where you manufacture something, when global supply chains aren't threatened by economic and political unrest and where tourists want to board a plane to go to from the other side of the country or the other side of the world.

I'm not convinced that, despite their/our outsized voices on forums and various forms of social media, there are enough unhinged Disney fans that will just go along with Disney wherever they go and with whatever they do.

Also, lets not forget about that brand new DVC tower going up.

How long are DVC contracts, again?

WDW isn't going anywhere in our lifetimes unless Putin's fever dreams come true and if that happens, theme parks will be the least of humanity's worries.

As for future expansion, if they don't want to, their competition will continue to.

I supposes they could start under-investing even more than they already are and let the Florida property slowly die a sad mess while competition overruns them, taking a big chunk of their company reputation down with it but I'm pretty sure that would be blamed on the CEO rather than cost of living increases for front-line workers.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

We'll have to agree to disagree on seeing Mississippi or Alabama becoming top international tourist destinations... for a variety of reasons but lets say they do.

Then what?

Then they enjoy the cheap labor and land for the next 50 years until that area turns into an unaffordable area like Orlando. After that I don’t know but it buys them 50 years to figure it out.

I don’t think anyone in the 60s saw the swamps of Orlando as a top international tourist destination either but Disney turned it into one. It’s ironic Disneys success has turned it into an expensive area to live with a shortage of labor.

$20 isn’t going to be the breaking point, likely not even $30 but get above that and the billion a year they’d potentially save on labor makes a $10 billion investment in another area make sense.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Right to work means Disney can replace union worker with non union workers.

That is not what it means. Right to work means that membership in the union cannot be a condition of employment. Employees decide if they are union members, not Disney or the union. Disney absolutely cannot fire an employee for choosing to join the union. Non-union employees are also covered by the collective bargaining agreement.

 

[Lilofan]

Then they enjoy the cheap labor and land for the next 50 years until that area turns into an unaffordable area like Orlando. After that I don’t know but it buys them 50 years to figure it out.

I don’t think anyone in the 60s saw the swamps of Orlando as a top international tourist destination either but Disney turned it into one. It’s ironic Disneys success has turned it into an expensive area to live with a shortage of labor.

Central FL housing and tourists companies have the same logic - build it and they will come.

 

[Smiley/OCD]

Really?

No offense but I'm going to just hazard a guess that Iger has a better view than you do.

Not just out his home and office windows but in more important ways, too.

Have we forgotten the specific timing around his previous (sudden) departure as CEO?

I’m fully aware that Bob I knows way more than I do in the d as y to day ops…I never insinuated I was as good or better. You are implying that I am…but we have ALL typed here knocking some of his decisions.

Besides, I’m not the one calling myself POMPUS

 

[MrPromey]

I’m fully aware that Bob I knows way more than I do in the d as y to day ops…I never insinuated I was as good or better. You are implying that I am…but we have ALL typed here knocking some of his decisions.

Besides, I’m not the one calling myself POMPUS

I'm not implying that at all.

Your exact words were "whether you’re a mom & Pop business or a multibillion business, the view from the other side of the counter is still the same."

I'm saying who on earth would believe that to be true?

Tell me, as a mom & pop business owner, how would you handle Disney+'s $4 billion in losses for 2022?

View's the same, right?

Maybe - just maybe - like being able to lose $4 billion dollars and say things are going well with a straight face, the decisions made by one of the largest corporations in the world about how to keep the lights on and the place fully staffed in one of the most profitable divisions of their company works a little different from a mom & pop struggling to make payroll while still paying their personal mortgage?

I'm not saying "Bob smart. Smiley dumb." (not at all - absolutely not at all)

I'm saying you've given no reason for anyone to think that you have any more insight than any of the rest of us when it comes to what is being discussed.

That said, I have respect for you running a small business. I know it's a difficult thing to do and that the rewards don't always make it seem worth it - no disrespect was meant from that.

... but NOTHING works the same at that scale and the view is entirely different. Heck, Bob never even has to sit on the other side of the counter.

Thanks for checking out my profile, btw.

 

[JoeCamel]

Central FL housing and tourists companies have the same logic - build it and they will come.

Been a Florida staple since Carl Fischer days and they do come

 

[MrPromey]

Then they enjoy the cheap labor and land for the next 50 years until that area turns into an unaffordable area like Orlando. After that I don’t know but it buys them 50 years to figure it out.

I don’t think anyone in the 60s saw the swamps of Orlando as a top international tourist destination either but Disney turned it into one. It’s ironic Disneys success has turned it into an expensive area to live with a shortage of labor.

$20 isn’t going to be the breaking point, likely not even $30 but get above that and the billion a year they’d potentially save on labor makes a $10 billion investment in another area make sense.

Nope, they didn't.

They saw the beaches as one.

Nobody knew where Orlando was back then which is how Disney got the land so cheap but Walt saw it as close to the beaches on both coasts as well as half way to Miami - all popular places international tourists were already going.*

He made Central Florida a top destination but people who think he somehow put Florida on the International Tourism map don't know much about the history of Florida before Disney.

Florida's established success in that regard, and his ability to set up shop in what he viewed as prime land nobody else had yet noticed at an important point in the highway systems being built connecting it all, had everything to do with him buying up the land that he did.

Anyway, I think you have to already know that beyond a thought experiment, what you're describing is never going to happen. That or you've never visited the two states you just mentioned - no offense to the residents of those two states but I don't think most of them would want to visit their own state for an extended vacation, either.

*I'm dealing with the start of the annual influx of spring breakers in my area - a pretty even mix of college and families with younger kids. Most of them won't even be going anywhere near Disney for the week they're here - I wish they'd got to "central Florida".

 

[Smiley/OCD]

I'm not implying that at all.

Your exact words were "whether you’re a mom & Pop business or a multibillion business, the view from the other side of the counter is still the same."

I'm saying who on earth would believe that to be true?

Tell me, as a mom & pop business owner, how would you handle Disney+'s $4 billion in losses for 2022?

View's the same, right?

Maybe - just maybe - like being able to lose $4 billion dollars and say things are going well with a straight face, the decisions made by one of the largest corporations in the world about how to keep the lights on and the place fully staffed in one of the most profitable divisions of their company works a little different from a mom & pop struggling to make payroll while still paying their personal mortgage?

I'm not saying "Bob smart. Smiley dumb." (not at all - absolutely not at all)

I'm saying you've given no reason for anyone to think that you have any more insight than any of the rest of us when it comes to what is being discussed.

That said, I have respect for you running a small business. I know it's a difficult thing to do and that the rewards don't always make it seem worth it - no disrespect was meant from that.

... but NOTHING works the same at that scale and the view is entirely different. Heck, Bob never even has to sit on the other side of the counter.

Thanks for checking out my profile, btw.

Damn, I didn’t think I’d have to make it so clear…what I was referring to was that the customer service and satisfaction keys are the same no matter how large your company is….I’d venture to say that the best way to learn those keys are in a small venue. Of course I don’t have the answers to their billions of dollars problems other than to say there are a plethora of “experts” on here that all claim to know what’s wrong, who’s to blame and how to fix it. If I did know, I certainly wouldn’t be conversing on these forums…I’d be working to get the job done.
And, thanks for the respect…it’s not as easy as it looks…

 

[Lilofan]

Been a Florida staple since Carl Fischer days and they do come

Fisher Island off of Miami Beach is named after him where millionaires and billionaires live. One family from the Northeast paid $30M recently just for a plot of land prior to having a custom home built.