D.Silentu
Well-Known Member
I see Disney Jr. was mentioned as the chief casualty. It is rumored that it also prevented droids from making daily appearances at Galaxy's Edge.
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News Disneyland Character Performers Look to Unionize With Actors’ Equity
- Thread starter DCBaker
- Start date
Alanzo
Well-Known Member
How could you say such a thing after such a compelling, well sourced, reasoned (and may I add ethos- and pathos-laden) argument was made to support the "reminder"?
MarvelCharacterNerd
Well-Known Member
Since this affects a lot of the people I care most about in the park, I wish them well, but I worry about the typical consequences of unionizing: those that survive the inevitable purge do better, but often it results more in layoffs than living wages.
But on the subject of rates - yes, character performers may make a better hourly wage already, but that only helps if you're getting at least 3-4 days a week of work. Some may only get one, or none and are just occasional subs, yet they're expected to be constantly available for work.
But on the subject of rates - yes, character performers may make a better hourly wage already, but that only helps if you're getting at least 3-4 days a week of work. Some may only get one, or none and are just occasional subs, yet they're expected to be constantly available for work.
New press release from Actors' Equity:
ANAHEIM, Calif. – The people who bring Disney characters to life in Disneyland’s shows, meet-and-greets and character dining experiences throughout the iconic resort have something new to celebrate today – they have reached a major milestone in their union organizing campaign. At a news conference Wednesday morning in a room overlooking Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, and the Grand Californian Hotel, Disney Cast Members who work in the Parades and Characters departments and the president of Actors’ Equity Association (Equity) announced that the union had filed an election petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for union recognition, with Equity serving as their bargaining representative.
“The Cast Members who bring the Characters and Parades to life have been non-union since Disneyland Resort opened in the 1950s and have watched other workers in the park unionize all around them. Just eight weeks after Equity launched a campaign seeking union authorization cards, we have signatures from a supermajority of those eligible,” said Equity President Kate Shindle. “These performers, and the Hosts, Leads and Trainers who create magic alongside them, know that their lives – as well as the Guest experience at Disneyland – can be improved through collective bargaining. They deserve a voice in their workplace, and meaningful negotiations over wages, benefits and working conditions.”
Calling themselves “Magic United,” Cast Members announced their intention to unionize on February 13 and since then volunteer organizers have collected signed union authorization cards from coworkers.
Yesterday, The Walt Disney Company was notified that a supermajority of the 1,700 eligible Cast Members had signed the union’s petition, and the company was asked to grant voluntary recognition. In the joint letter from the members of Magic United sent to Disneyland Resort’s Labor Relations, the Cast Members wrote: “Our hope is to keep moving forward in collaboration. We believe improving our collective working conditions will have a direct impact on not only Cast Members’ lives, but the caliber of entertainment we offer at Disneyland Resort.”
“We love the work we do. We are proud to be a part of one of the greatest legacies in modern entertainment. Magic United invites The Walt Disney Company to voluntarily recognize our union and work with us to enhance an essential aspect of Walt Disney’s vision for his theme park – the transcendent magic of live entertainment.”
The union has not had a response from the company and will move forward to arrange for a union election with the NLRB. Unless the company grants recognition, an election will likely be held on-site at the resort in May or June.
Speaking at the Wednesday morning announcement, Magic United spokespeople discussed in detail their desire for improvements in safety, scheduling, a living wage, benefits and an opportunity to have a say in their workplace. They spoke of the difficulty of obtaining health insurance through Disney. Base pay for Parade and Character Cast Members is $24.15/hour with various premiums on top of that for different roles. But the premiums vary greatly and can be as little as 40 cents/hour. Despite the issues raised, the speakers at Wednesday’s announcement made it clear that they love their jobs and are both pro-Disney and pro-union.
“Our goal is to make ‘the happiest place on Earth’ a little happier,” said Shindle. “Equity has a very good relationship with Disney. We negotiate with them at Walt Disney World in Orlando, and with Disney Theatricals on Broadway and national tours. We look forward to meeting with their representatives across the bargaining table, and together, making the Disneyland Resort a fairer and safer place to work.”
The Disneyland Resort, which includes Disneyland Park and Disney’s California Adventure as well as three hotels and Downtown Disney, opened in 1955 and has become one of the most attended themed entertainment attractions in the world. Most of the Disneyland workforce is unionized, with those working in Characters and Parades being a notable exception – particularly notable given that their colleagues doing the same work in Florida have been unionized for decades.
ANAHEIM, Calif. – The people who bring Disney characters to life in Disneyland’s shows, meet-and-greets and character dining experiences throughout the iconic resort have something new to celebrate today – they have reached a major milestone in their union organizing campaign. At a news conference Wednesday morning in a room overlooking Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, and the Grand Californian Hotel, Disney Cast Members who work in the Parades and Characters departments and the president of Actors’ Equity Association (Equity) announced that the union had filed an election petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for union recognition, with Equity serving as their bargaining representative.
“The Cast Members who bring the Characters and Parades to life have been non-union since Disneyland Resort opened in the 1950s and have watched other workers in the park unionize all around them. Just eight weeks after Equity launched a campaign seeking union authorization cards, we have signatures from a supermajority of those eligible,” said Equity President Kate Shindle. “These performers, and the Hosts, Leads and Trainers who create magic alongside them, know that their lives – as well as the Guest experience at Disneyland – can be improved through collective bargaining. They deserve a voice in their workplace, and meaningful negotiations over wages, benefits and working conditions.”
Calling themselves “Magic United,” Cast Members announced their intention to unionize on February 13 and since then volunteer organizers have collected signed union authorization cards from coworkers.
Yesterday, The Walt Disney Company was notified that a supermajority of the 1,700 eligible Cast Members had signed the union’s petition, and the company was asked to grant voluntary recognition. In the joint letter from the members of Magic United sent to Disneyland Resort’s Labor Relations, the Cast Members wrote: “Our hope is to keep moving forward in collaboration. We believe improving our collective working conditions will have a direct impact on not only Cast Members’ lives, but the caliber of entertainment we offer at Disneyland Resort.”
“We love the work we do. We are proud to be a part of one of the greatest legacies in modern entertainment. Magic United invites The Walt Disney Company to voluntarily recognize our union and work with us to enhance an essential aspect of Walt Disney’s vision for his theme park – the transcendent magic of live entertainment.”
The union has not had a response from the company and will move forward to arrange for a union election with the NLRB. Unless the company grants recognition, an election will likely be held on-site at the resort in May or June.
Speaking at the Wednesday morning announcement, Magic United spokespeople discussed in detail their desire for improvements in safety, scheduling, a living wage, benefits and an opportunity to have a say in their workplace. They spoke of the difficulty of obtaining health insurance through Disney. Base pay for Parade and Character Cast Members is $24.15/hour with various premiums on top of that for different roles. But the premiums vary greatly and can be as little as 40 cents/hour. Despite the issues raised, the speakers at Wednesday’s announcement made it clear that they love their jobs and are both pro-Disney and pro-union.
“Our goal is to make ‘the happiest place on Earth’ a little happier,” said Shindle. “Equity has a very good relationship with Disney. We negotiate with them at Walt Disney World in Orlando, and with Disney Theatricals on Broadway and national tours. We look forward to meeting with their representatives across the bargaining table, and together, making the Disneyland Resort a fairer and safer place to work.”
The Disneyland Resort, which includes Disneyland Park and Disney’s California Adventure as well as three hotels and Downtown Disney, opened in 1955 and has become one of the most attended themed entertainment attractions in the world. Most of the Disneyland workforce is unionized, with those working in Characters and Parades being a notable exception – particularly notable given that their colleagues doing the same work in Florida have been unionized for decades.
Disney Analyst
Well-Known Member
Brian
Well-Known Member
It's unfortunate that the 258 CMs who voted against unionization, and the others who opposed it but did not vote, will not have the option to opt out of union membership and will be forced to pay dues out of their paycheck because California lacks 'right to work' legislation.
Disney Analyst
Well-Known Member
I say good for them, but I really hope Disney doesn’t now cut back on characters and performers at Disneyland even more than they already are…
No one really knows what will happen yet
With cast covered by the union then mgt will be more looked at with a microscope by the unions . CMs can file grievances and the union will defend them.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
That would seem to be a given. As it is in any industry when labor costs suddenly go up.
And yet, they've already cut a third of the dancers/performers from the Pixar parade, as one example.
The Pixar Play Parade in 2008 had 92 dancers/characters/performers, and now in 2024 Better Together: A Pixar Pals Celebration! street activation on Performance Corridor has 61 dancers/characters/performers.
How much more can they cut without just getting robots and drones to do it?
Professortango1
Well-Known Member
It just stinks because Disneyland performers have been trying to do this for awhile, so Disney could have easily fixed how they treat performers and helped reduce the need for unionizing. But Disney does what it does too often, they dug their heels in, expanded profits, and said "people will swallow whatever we tell them tastes like candy." It has happened to guests, CMs, Imagineers. And it is starting to bite them in the behind.
asianway
Well-Known Member
This is literally a 100% certainty. Remember Disney Jr
TP2000
Well-Known Member
Exactly. It's obviously going to happen.
But what's troubling is that they already have a situation where there is dramatically less live entertainment any more, and what offerings they do have were already being cut back noticeably from previous years.
- Hyperion Theater is closed and abandoned
- Fantasyland Theater has no stage show
- Golden Horseshoe has no stage show
- 2024 Pixar Parade has cut 32% of its performers from previous version
- There is no night parade in either park
- Previous Character/Stage Show venues are closed and abandoned: Stage 17, Launch Bay, Backlot Dance Parties, etc.
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Disney Analyst
Well-Known Member
I know for certain only some Cast are Equity at Disney World, unsure about what union if any the Characters / Parades / other Performers fall under.
The bigger deal is Equity would be covering ALL performers at Disneyland, and Equity is a very powerful, and very strict union.
I see, didn’t realise it was Equity for all performers at Disneyland. I mean good for them they work hard, but we all know Disney hates spending money.
asianway
Well-Known Member
They are all either Teamsters or Equity. Will be interesting if they want a change here once the DL contract shakes out
Dear Prudence
Well-Known Member
I know a lot the performers are AEA in the stage shows and stuff, but I thought the other performers were AGVA already. Still, GOOD FOR THEM!!!!