Union members voted down a contract proposal that covers tens of thousands of Walt Disney World service workers, saying it doesn’t go far enough to help employees face rising housing costs and other costs in central Florida.
The union said 13,650 of the 14,263 members who voted on the contract on Friday rejected Disney’s proposal, sending negotiators back to the bargaining table for another round of talks that have been underway since August. The contract covers about 45,000 service workers at the Disney theme park resort outside of Orlando.
Disney World service workers in six unions that make up the Trades Council Union coalition have demanded an increase in the starting minimum wage to at least $18 an hour in the first year of the contract, up from a starting minimum wage of $15 an hour. hours won in the previous contract.
The proposal rejected Friday would have raised the starting minimum wage to $20 an hour for all service workers in the final year of a five-year contract, an increase of $1 per year for the majority of covered workers. Certain positions, such as housekeepers, bus drivers and culinary jobs, would start at a minimum of $20 under the proposal.
“Housekeepers work hard to bring magic to Disney, but we can’t pay the bills with magic,” said Vilane Raphael, who works as a housekeeper at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa.
The company said the proposal offered a quarter of the contract with a $20 hourly wage in the first year, eight weeks of paid time off for new kids, pension maintenance and the introduction of a 401K plan.
“The strong offer provided more than 30,000 Cast Members with an average of 10% immediate raises, as well as retroactive increases in pay, and we are disappointed that these increases are now on hold,” Disney spokeswoman Andrea Finger said in a statement.
The contract stalemate comes as the Florida Legislature prepares to meet next week to finalize the state’s takeover of the Disney World independent district. With the support of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the GOP-controlled Statehouse last April approved legislation to dissolve the Reedy Creek Improvement District in June 2023, starting a closely watched process that will determine the governing structure that controls the Disney World property.
Contracts with service workers include costumed character players who appear as Mickey Mouse, bus drivers, culinary workers, lifeguards, theater workers and hotel housekeepers, representing more than half of the 70,000-plus workforce at Disney World. The contract approved five years ago made Disney the first major employer in central Florida to agree to a minimum hourly wage of $15, setting a trend for other workers in the hospitality industry.
A report commissioned last year by one of the unions in the coalition, Unite Here Local 737, said that adult workers without dependents would need to earn $18.19 an hour to earn a living wage in central Florida, while families with two children would need two parents earn $23.91 an hour for a living wage.
While the $15-an-hour wage was sufficient for the last contract, “with rising rent, food, and gas prices over the past three years, it is no longer possible to live on that wage,” the report said.
Before the pandemic, family workers were making $15 to $16.50 an hour to pay the bills. But with inflation driving food and gas prices up, employees earning $15 an hour full time now make $530 less than they would have to pay for rent, food and gas each month, the report said.
Last month, food service and concessions workers at the Orange County Convention Center voted to approve a contract that would raise the wages of all casual workers to $18 an hour by August, making them the first hospitality workers in Orlando to earn that wage.
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