News Reedy Creek Improvement District and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District

tissandtully

tissandtully

Well-Known Member
DCBaker said:
More on that -

"Disney World’s firefighter union leader slammed his members for sharing their proposed contract which he said is pressuring the new district administrator not to sign because other public officials are complaining about the lucrative deal.

“We just shot ourselves in the foot to the tune of millions of dollars that this agreement would have put into the pockets of our members,” Jon Shirey wrote his union members.

Shirey’s message, obtained by Florida Politics, comes amid an Associated Press report that Disney World firefighters are returning to the bargaining table with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.

Disney World firefighters, who had a contentious relationship with the old Reedy Creek Improvement District, have been staunch supporters of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ takeover of the Disney World governing district.

The two sides appeared to quickly reach a new contract deal. The district’s firefighters and first responders recently approved a three-year contract that would have bumped their minimum pay from $55,000 to $65,000, the AP reported, but the DeSantis-appointed board never took action to approve the new contract on its end.

The tourism board is scheduled to meet Wednesday and does not list the contract vote on the agenda.

Shirey complained union members had posted the contract on social media and leaked it to “every outlet they could find” which was putting pressure on the district’s new administrator Glen Gilzean who was hired last month.

“This contract got into the hands of city and county leaders across the state of Florida,” Shirey wrote. “Glen had been receiving calls left and right yelling at him that he couldn’t sign this agreement, and how it was going to screw all of the taxpayers in those areas bc they would have to raise taxes just to be able to recruit and stay even somewhat competitive with the new market.”

Shirey went on to say, “If/when we come to some new agreement, don’t share it with your family, your friends, members of other departments, and definitely not randomly out on social media. DO NOT SHARE IT WITH ANYONE!!!!”

Shirey added he did not know when the district and the union would work out a contract but “I know it won’t be in June and we would be lucky to have it done by the July board meeting.”

The district did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Monday."

floridapolitics.com

Disney World firefighter union leader: ‘We just shot ourselves in the foot’

It's unknown when Disney World firefighters will sign a new contract with the DeSantis-run district, union leader says.
floridapolitics.com floridapolitics.com
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Oh man this is too good.
 
tissandtully

tissandtully

Well-Known Member
GoofGoof said:
It’s an odd development. Maybe it’s just an ego thing with the new guy wanting to claim it was “his contract” that he negotiated. Hopefully just that. The board has no incentive to give them less since Disney foots the bill unless the DS vendors got to them and convinced them it was excessive. I wonder if it’s not really around the pay raises and hiring but more around other stuff. Maybe they went to ensure there is no diversity, equity or inclusion in the hiring or training of the staff. Stuff like that. Whatever the case they should settle it soon. These guys were jerked around for a few years working without a contract, then thought they got a really good one, no not so sure.
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They can lie in the bed they made for all I care.
 
GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
DCBaker said:
More on that -

"Disney World’s firefighter union leader slammed his members for sharing their proposed contract which he said is pressuring the new district administrator not to sign because other public officials are complaining about the lucrative deal.

“We just shot ourselves in the foot to the tune of millions of dollars that this agreement would have put into the pockets of our members,” Jon Shirey wrote his union members.

Shirey’s message, obtained by Florida Politics, comes amid an Associated Press report that Disney World firefighters are returning to the bargaining table with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.

Disney World firefighters, who had a contentious relationship with the old Reedy Creek Improvement District, have been staunch supporters of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ takeover of the Disney World governing district.

The two sides appeared to quickly reach a new contract deal. The district’s firefighters and first responders recently approved a three-year contract that would have bumped their minimum pay from $55,000 to $65,000, the AP reported, but the DeSantis-appointed board never took action to approve the new contract on its end.

The tourism board is scheduled to meet Wednesday and does not list the contract vote on the agenda.

Shirey complained union members had posted the contract on social media and leaked it to “every outlet they could find” which was putting pressure on the district’s new administrator Glen Gilzean who was hired last month.

“This contract got into the hands of city and county leaders across the state of Florida,” Shirey wrote. “Glen had been receiving calls left and right yelling at him that he couldn’t sign this agreement, and how it was going to screw all of the taxpayers in those areas bc they would have to raise taxes just to be able to recruit and stay even somewhat competitive with the new market.”

Shirey went on to say, “If/when we come to some new agreement, don’t share it with your family, your friends, members of other departments, and definitely not randomly out on social media. DO NOT SHARE IT WITH ANYONE!!!!”

Shirey added he did not know when the district and the union would work out a contract but “I know it won’t be in June and we would be lucky to have it done by the July board meeting.”

The district did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Monday."

floridapolitics.com

Disney World firefighter union leader: ‘We just shot ourselves in the foot’

It's unknown when Disney World firefighters will sign a new contract with the DeSantis-run district, union leader says.
floridapolitics.com floridapolitics.com
Click to expand...
Yeah that makes some sense.

So to summarize: DeSantis‘s hand picked board offered an over the top, lucrative deal as a way to “punish” Disney since they foot most of the bill. Like every other action taken they acted without a real plan and didn’t even bother to think through the ramifications. Not sure if it’s arrogance or just plain stupidity, probably a combo of both. Now they are getting political pressure to pull back on the contract from a bunch of people, some of who likely backed DeSantis. You can’t make this stuff up. This is why you don’t have political hacks with zero experience running a local government entity. Really shows anyone watching what would be in store should Ron move on to higher office. Putting unqualified people into positions of power based solely on blind loyalty.
 
flynnibus

flynnibus

Premium Member
DCBaker said:
More on that -

"Disney World’s firefighter union leader slammed his members for sharing their proposed contract which he said is pressuring the new district administrator not to sign because other public officials are complaining about the lucrative deal.

“We just shot ourselves in the foot to the tune of millions of dollars that this agreement would have put into the pockets of our members,” Jon Shirey wrote his union members.

Shirey’s message, obtained by Florida Politics, comes amid an Associated Press report that Disney World firefighters are returning to the bargaining table with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.

Disney World firefighters, who had a contentious relationship with the old Reedy Creek Improvement District, have been staunch supporters of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ takeover of the Disney World governing district.

The two sides appeared to quickly reach a new contract deal. The district’s firefighters and first responders recently approved a three-year contract that would have bumped their minimum pay from $55,000 to $65,000, the AP reported, but the DeSantis-appointed board never took action to approve the new contract on its end.

The tourism board is scheduled to meet Wednesday and does not list the contract vote on the agenda.

Shirey complained union members had posted the contract on social media and leaked it to “every outlet they could find” which was putting pressure on the district’s new administrator Glen Gilzean who was hired last month.

“This contract got into the hands of city and county leaders across the state of Florida,” Shirey wrote. “Glen had been receiving calls left and right yelling at him that he couldn’t sign this agreement, and how it was going to screw all of the taxpayers in those areas bc they would have to raise taxes just to be able to recruit and stay even somewhat competitive with the new market.”

Shirey went on to say, “If/when we come to some new agreement, don’t share it with your family, your friends, members of other departments, and definitely not randomly out on social media. DO NOT SHARE IT WITH ANYONE!!!!”

Shirey added he did not know when the district and the union would work out a contract but “I know it won’t be in June and we would be lucky to have it done by the July board meeting.”

The district did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Monday."

floridapolitics.com

Disney World firefighter union leader: ‘We just shot ourselves in the foot’

It's unknown when Disney World firefighters will sign a new contract with the DeSantis-run district, union leader says.
floridapolitics.com floridapolitics.com
Click to expand...
Oh.. so i guess the deal wasn’t just getting ehat the firefighters deserved and catch up to be competitive if every other city is like eh?

:)
 
GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
afterabme said:
Weren't the proposed salary increases in line with Orange County firefighter salaries?
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Orlando firefighters start at $50K vs $65K under the proposed RCID contract so a 30% bump. I imagine other areas in FL may be less than Orlando too so it would set a pretty high mark for future negotiations.
 
S

seascape

Well-Known Member
GoofGoof said:
Yeah that makes some sense.

So to summarize: DeSantis‘s hand picked board offered an over the top, lucrative deal as a way to “punish” Disney since they foot most of the bill. Like every other action taken they acted without a real plan and didn’t even bother to think through the ramifications. Not sure if it’s arrogance or just plain stupidity, probably a combo of both. Now they are getting political pressure to pull back on the contract from a bunch of people, some of who likely backed DeSantis. You can’t make this stuff up. This is why you don’t have political hacks with zero experience running a local government entity. Really shows anyone watching what would be in store should Ron move on to higher office. Putting unqualified people into positions of power based solely on blind loyalty.
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This is just one of the examples Disney will use to prove the Board was appointed to harm Disney. Just imagine all the towns around WDW being called to testify how harmful this contract would have been to their taxpayers. DeSantis is a fool and will lose this case.
 
L

Lilofan

Well-Known Member
GoofGoof said:
Orlando firefighters start at $50K vs $65K under the proposed RCID contract so a 30% bump. I imagine other areas in FL may be less than Orlando too so it would set a pretty high mark for future negotiations.
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And the RC firefighters get access to play in the park with their families as an added bonus.
 
GoofGoof

GoofGoof

Premium Member
Lilofan said:
And the RC firefighters get access to play in the park with their families as an added bonus.
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Could be worth a few grand depending on family size. Probably not enough to get people to switch jobs, but coupled with 30%+ higher base pay it would put RCID at an extreme advantage when recruiting over other fire departments. Each municipal government has the right to make a decision like this, but there are typically consequences they need to consider. If the pay increase leads to a tax increase then they need to justify it to the taxpayers or risk being voted out. In this case the taxpayers have no say so the board can just bloat the budget without any negative repercussions and to take it a step further, the only person they answer to is the Governor and since Disney is the primary tax payer and the Governor wants to punish Disney, the board actually has every incentive to damage the taxpayer. This is just another example of why the current setup should not be allowed. No taxation without representation. Basic American principle.
 
Sir_Cliff

Sir_Cliff

Well-Known Member
GoofGoof said:
This is just another example of why the current setup should not be allowed. No taxation without representation. Basic American principle.
Click to expand...
I guess I'm not saying anything new here, but this is really why this whole arrangement should be setting off alarm bells regardless of your view of both actors. You would think in a democracy that the government can't just sweep in, take away the voting rights of individuals or companies in a district, and then spend their tax dollars however they pleased. If it's actually perfectly legal for that to happen, then maybe something should be done about that.
 

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