Cast members who work at Walt Disney World say they’re having a hard time making ends meet and are calling for wages to be raised to at least $20 an hour.
Union leaders continue to push for improvements to proposals Disney is currently considering, and union workers at the Trade in Services Council will vote next week to increase wages for most workers to $1 an hour. Encouraged to reject Disney’s offer to pull up. The union represents approximately 45,00 Disney employees.
What you need to know
- Unions representing about 45,000 Disney workers are calling for wages to be raised to at least $30 an hour.
- Service Trades Council Union leaders are urging members to reject proposals currently being put forward by Disney.
- Disney officials said the offer, among other things, would increase the hourly wages of most workers by $1 a year.
Mel Paradiso started attending Disney with his family during his freshman year of high school. Eventually, she came down to Orlando with her father and since she saw the area she knew she wanted to work in “the most magical place on earth.”
After starting part-time, Paradiso transitioned to a full-time position in 2021. Now she regrets that decision and she says she would like to change it if possible.
“If I was in the same position and started out part-time, I probably wouldn’t have made it full-time,” Paradiso said. “I probably would have worked part-time, and either got another job that could pay more, or just balance both hours.”
The new mother admits that the union and company want workers to pay $20 an hour, but she doesn’t understand why they can’t raise them all at once.
Paradiso said the expansion will allow her, her husband and four-month-old son Bruno to move into a larger space. But she said her initial $1 price increase (which Disney is offering) wasn’t enough to make her dream come true.
“Tomorrow, we might get $20. It makes a lot of sense. ”
“Not all of us are going to buy a Tesla or a Ferrari tomorrow,” she added. “We just want to — we just want to fix the windshield. There’s something like a crack. We don’t want to go and spend all that money.”
Her car’s check oil light has also just come on, and Paradiso said she can’t afford to replace it right now.
She added that even her job was too expensive for her as the cost of everything went up.
“I feel like this is the first time I’ve worked in a company where it’s almost too expensive to work there,” she said. I’ve never worked in a place where I couldn’t afford to work just because I had more stuff.”
She and her fellow cast members believe they are doing everything they can to create magical moments for guests visiting Disney parks and question why the company doesn’t want to help its employees. doing.
Paradiso said, “It’s amazing that Disney is saying it’s a great company again and wants to bring all these families together. In some ways, it feels like it’s tearing families apart.” It’s not fair to
She believes reaching this $20 mark early will help the company and show people that Disney cares about its cast members.
In response, a Disney spokesperson sent the following statement to Spectrum News about the offer the union had made.
“This very strong offer allows our Cast Members to get an immediate pay increase of close to 10% on average, with a guaranteed pay increase for the next four years. They are promised a starting salary of at least $20 in 2019, with most seeing a $33 raise, an increase of 46% to 46% during that time.”
Below are some additional aspects of the deal Disney shared with Spectrum News.
- 25% of untipped STCU roles reach $20 an hour in the first year of contract
- Our Offer Includes 8 Weeks of Paid Child Bonds for Eligible Cast Members
- Within the first year, about a third of STCU cast members get a 16% hourly wage increase.
- Our proposal includes an average salary increase of nearly 10% in the first year.
- Full-time untipped cast members are paid at least $5 above the Florida minimum wage each year.
- Once the agreement is approved, positions such as housekeepers and bus drivers will be paid a minimum wage of $20 an hour, and culinary cast members will start at $20-$25 an hour, depending on their position.
- Cast Members will receive a retroactive pay increase starting at a minimum of $700 for Cast Members working 40 hours a week, dating back to October 2022.
- This offer keeps your current pension and introduces additional 401K options
- Walt Disney World is the first major employer in Central Florida to set a starting Cast Member salary of $15 by 2021, as well as offering a comprehensive employment package that includes healthcare. , invests in the overall employee experience.Paid vacation and sick leave, overtime opportunities, discount offers, and multiple options for development and promotion
- 46% of the nearly 30,000 untipped full-time cast members represented by STCU earn $1 an hour or more in their first year.
