Workers Strike at Two Disney World Hotels
Get Quote, Company Info: DIS, HOT
By MIKE SCHNEIDER
.c The Associated Press
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (May 28) - Hundreds of workers at two hotels on Walt Disney World property walked off the job Tuesday in what is the first strike in years in the Orlando area's tourism industry.
Teamsters-affiliated housekeepers, laundry workers, seamstresses and public area attendants at the Swan and Dolphin hotels picketed outside the hotels.
Last week, the workers rejected for a second time a three-year contract covering 400 of the hotels' 2,000 workers. Management said it would implement the contract unilaterally.
Although the hotels are on Disney property, they are owned by Tishman Hotel Corp. and managed by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.
Treva Marshall, a spokeswoman for the hotels, couldn't comment immediately on whether there was any disruption in services.
Workers wanted a guaranteed 40-hour work week and job assignments based on seniority.
Strikes in Orlando's tourism industry are rare. Area labor leaders could recall only two in the past decade: a musicians' strike at Walt Disney World and one by hotel workers at the Grosvenor Resort near Walt Disney World.
Hundreds of hotel workers were laid off last year during the tourism slowdown.
There also had been fears of a strike in Las Vegas this week. But Monday, a weekend walkout on the Strip was likely averted when unions representing culinary workers and bartenders agreed to a five-year deal with hotel-casino giant MGM Mirage.
Negotiators had also reached deals in recent days with Mandalay Resort Group, Park Place Entertainment, Harrah's Entertainment and the Tropicana. The agreements cover about 35,000 of the 47,000 workers represented by Culinary Local 226 and Bartenders Local 165.
A strike is still possible, pending the outcome of negotiations with smaller Strip and downtown Las Vegas properties. The strike deadline is Saturday.
Get Quote, Company Info: DIS, HOT
By MIKE SCHNEIDER
.c The Associated Press
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (May 28) - Hundreds of workers at two hotels on Walt Disney World property walked off the job Tuesday in what is the first strike in years in the Orlando area's tourism industry.
Teamsters-affiliated housekeepers, laundry workers, seamstresses and public area attendants at the Swan and Dolphin hotels picketed outside the hotels.
Last week, the workers rejected for a second time a three-year contract covering 400 of the hotels' 2,000 workers. Management said it would implement the contract unilaterally.
Although the hotels are on Disney property, they are owned by Tishman Hotel Corp. and managed by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.
Treva Marshall, a spokeswoman for the hotels, couldn't comment immediately on whether there was any disruption in services.
Workers wanted a guaranteed 40-hour work week and job assignments based on seniority.
Strikes in Orlando's tourism industry are rare. Area labor leaders could recall only two in the past decade: a musicians' strike at Walt Disney World and one by hotel workers at the Grosvenor Resort near Walt Disney World.
Hundreds of hotel workers were laid off last year during the tourism slowdown.
There also had been fears of a strike in Las Vegas this week. But Monday, a weekend walkout on the Strip was likely averted when unions representing culinary workers and bartenders agreed to a five-year deal with hotel-casino giant MGM Mirage.
Negotiators had also reached deals in recent days with Mandalay Resort Group, Park Place Entertainment, Harrah's Entertainment and the Tropicana. The agreements cover about 35,000 of the 47,000 workers represented by Culinary Local 226 and Bartenders Local 165.
A strike is still possible, pending the outcome of negotiations with smaller Strip and downtown Las Vegas properties. The strike deadline is Saturday.
