Union Cast Members at Walt Disney World overwhelmingly reject Disney's latest contract offer

Feb 04, 2023 in "The Walt Disney Company"

Posted: Saturday February 4, 2023 8:00pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

UNITE HERE Local 737 reports that its union members have rejected Disney's latest Walt Disney World contract offer.

According to a UNITE HERE Local 737, 14,263 Walt Disney World union members voted on Disney's latest contract offer, and 96% of those voted to reject the deal.

After months of negotiations with Disney, the Service Trades Council Union recommended in January that Walt Disney World Cast Members reject Disney's offer of a $1 pay rise.

The STCU represents the vast majority of Walt Disney World's front-line Cast Members, totaling around 42000 employed throughout Disney's Florida business.

Bargaining sessions took place on November 29 and December 1, with wage increases, healthcare costs, and retirement top of the agenda.

The existing contract being negotiated expired on October 1, 2022, with both the union and Disney agreeing to extend the agreement while negotiations continued.

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MrPromey4 hours ago

Yes I did - that's exactly what I was talking about (and what the New York Times article in the link to my post you just responded to was referring to).

Disone4 hours ago

Living up to your name? When and what was the change? All I was saying it it was added as a benefit early in the life of the old contract.

TrainsOfDisney4 hours ago

If your one of the more experienced on your team and you haven’t been there 2 years - this is obviously a job with lots of turnover. Kinda like a job…. In the parks.

Lilofan4 hours ago

You didn't mention of the few hundreds that were laid off from WDW IT after to train their foreign replacements in Orlando.

MrPromey5 hours ago

Actually, correcting myself, the jobs didn't go to India but what happened was just as bad - and did get plenty of national coverage. People just have short memories. Disney abused the H-B1 visa program to replace existing domestic IT staff with under-skilled people from India: NYT - Pink Slips at Disney. But First, Training Foreign Replacements. ORLANDO, Fla. — The employees who kept the data systems humming in the vast Walt Disney fantasy fief did not suspect trouble when they were suddenly summoned to meetings with their boss...

Lilofan5 hours ago

The famed Zenia Mucha was the Disney PR exec queen who for the most part controlled the chaos and kept the dirty laundry from getting leaked to the media and public.

GhostHost10005 hours ago

That’s what I call dirty magic

MrPromey5 hours ago

It's my understanding, they had to if they wanted to receive their separation packages.

Lilofan5 hours ago

A number of WDW IT cast before they were laid off years ago were instructed to train their replacements which they did.

MrPromey5 hours ago

Most of the IT folks are already there so...

SaintsDisneyFan7 hours ago

So your answer is don't offer a pay increase at all and let those people fall further and further behind? I'm sorry but I disagree with this mentality. Not everyone is in a position where they can try to move up or find another job. Some might not have the skills to do it, others might have other considerations (family, going to school etc.). I don't think anyone is arguing that this raise is life changing money but it does help Cast Members from just falling further behind. I'm having trouble seeing where Disney building a park in India would overlap with a park in Orlando. Two totally different markets. If Disney abandoned WDW and built a park in India the typical crowd that goes to WDW isn't going to say "well guess we need to go to India now". This is another problem that I've seen on this board. The idea that Orlando will cease to exist if Disney ever left (it's come up obviously in the last year with all the political stuff going on) and it just isn't true. The people who make this comment definitely come off as people who think Orlando is just Disney, Universal, SeaWorld, I-Drive and OIA. The people who make this comment come off as people who have never been north of I-Drive. Yes Disney is a large part of why Orlando went from a sleepy town to the city it is today. Yes if Disney had never build WDW Orlando is probably more the size of Lakeland or Tallahassee. And yes through the 70s, 80s and probably even most of the 90s Orlando was largely dependent on Disney (and to a lesser extend Universal and SeaWorld). With that said, we're well past that point now. I know for some of you this will be hard to believe but the majority of my friends here in Orlando don't work for Disney. If Disney left tomorrow they would be just fine. Tourism is still the #1 industry in Orlando but it's not the only game in town. In fact if you go to Downtown Orlando and north of downtown those areas are largely separate from the tourism industry and the theme parks. You wouldn't even know Disney and Universal were close and the majority of those people have no connection to the tourism industry. Yes if Disney left Orlando it would hurt Orlando a good amount. Osceola County and Kissimmee would by far be hurt the most. But it's no different than other cities. Detroit would be hurt bad if GM left. Atlanta would be hurt bad if Delta left. Seattle would be hurt bad as Boeing left. Los Angeles would be hurt bad if Hollywood left. But Orlando would not cease to exist if Disney left. Honestly I think Orlando has gotten to the point where Disney needs Orlando more than Orlando needs Disney. If Disney left tomorrow Orlando still has Universal, SeaWorld, Legoland, Kennedy Space Center, Port Canaveral and the nearby beaches. Many people would still come to Orlando and fly through OIA. Heck some company could probably end up buying the former Disney properties, re theme the parks and then re open the parks. It would take a lot but it could be done. I think many of you on this board overstate Disney's importance to Orlando. Orlando would be hurt by Disney leaving, there's no debate there, but Orlando would survive, move on and honestly at this point I don't think Orlando would even lose that many people. Probably 200-300,000 (between Disney employees who move back to California, employees who moved to Orlando just for Disney and leave and residents who were here just to be close to Disney and leave) people leave which still leaves probably around 2 million in the metro area. Again Osceola County and Kissimmee would get hit much harder but honestly Downtown Orlando and north Disney leaving wouldn't have much impact at all.

Lilofan8 hours ago

Fall of 2005 Eisner and Iger visited India , meeting with the PM of India and scouting around to build a Disney theme park in Dehli.

Smiley/OCD10 hours ago

It’s all good…in the end, we’re all looking for the best outcome..

muddyrivers12 hours ago

Agreed (and not just because you have ALF as your avatar :P). When you get a pay increase, you have that temporary feeling of being satisfied and happy with getting more money you previously weren't receiving. Before long though you start to get the feeling that maybe you could be earning even more and you feel frustrated and annoyed with your job again. It's not just about the money, it's also about your working environment which includes how management treats you, how your coworkers make the workplace, etc.