CMs of all stripes are grossly underpaid and undervalued and it shouldn't be that way.
MOST people don't get paid what they're worth (CMs, teachers, firemen, etc.), and even fewer get paid what they ~think~ they're worth. :lookaroun
We can all argue whether it's fair or not fair, but it's the way or system works.
And what
raven said is right - CMs, in general, are looked at as expendable because for every good CM, there are probably 10 other potentially good CMs dying to work for the company. It's the nature of the beast (or mouse, in this case).
Nobody is concerned about the dangers to CMs, they're worried about the guests. We move hundreds of thousands of guests a day on attractions, most of the time without incident. Safety plays the upmost concern in attractions, and a CM who's worried about how to make ends meet may not be as concientious as a CM who's satisfied with his/her job. We sure could put a bunch of slobs in charge of the ride you're riding, how would you like to be greeted by a snort, watching the CM play with a yo-yo while rockets are in motion on Space Mountain? Your safety would be in danger if it weren't for these "unskilled" workers.
Again,
Blackride said "Highly skilled" and "technical". It wasn't a slam against CMs. The truth is, you don't ~need~ a college degree or large ammounts of training to run a ride, pick up trash, or serve food. (And, yes, before anyone yells at me, you need SOME training. But we're not brain surgeons or engineers here, folks. It's not the same thing...)
Something else to consider - while Disney doesn't pay it's workers a lot, it stays competitive with other companies like it (Universal, Sea World, etc.) AND it offers excellent benefits to FT, and reasonable perks to all employees (discounts, free stuff, admission to parks, etc.) Sure, they're only perks if you like the company, but that goes back to my point about all the people who just want to work for Disney because it's Disney.
You want to take the emotional factor out of the equation? We're talking Disney here, taking the emotion out of Disney is taking the heart from an animal and expecting it to live. For someone who's such a big WDW fan, you shouldn't really talk badly of the heart and soul of the company, without the CMs, WDW wouldn't run, simple as that. Without good CMs, we'd get to see injuries daily at every attraction, tigger just standing there looking bored, and you'd be getting burnt fries and soggy burgers at F&B locations. What kind of happy world is that?
I don't think anyone said (or implied) that CMs aren't valuable. But they get paid a competitive salary. 50,000 people work for WDW. If we assume that HALF of them are making minimum wage, it's still hard to argue that Disney is losing it's good CMS because they don't pay enough.
Even so, its very low pay compared to similar jobs.
