Disney undercuts workers union's proposal for a 37 percent increase in wages with a merger 2.5 percent counter proposal

Disney World's largest union is making waves in the press about how low they
get paid by Mickey Mouse in their latest contract negotiations
Nearly 40,000 unionized Disney workers are calling for a 37 percent increase in wages in the latest round of negotiations with their boss, Mickey Mouse, at Walt Disney World Florida.

Disney, which is Orlando's largest employer with about 74,000 employees at Disney World, has countered the union's offer with an insulting and very meager 2.5% increase in wages.

The demands from Disney largest worker's union, Unite Here Local 737, propose to increase wages from $11.28 to $15.71, according to to the union's president Jeremy Haicken, which he calls a "living wage."

Disney representatives, who don't appear to be able to do basic math, say employees already make more than $13 an hour when overtime and premiums are taken into account. Thus, it seems Disney officials have already conceded that they are willing to bump up the wage increase to $13 an hour from these statements.


The company also argues that entry-level employees make nearly $2 more an hour than the Florida minimum wage, which is set at $8.10 an hour.

Disney has a long and storied history of unfair labor practices
going back to even the early days when Walt Disney was still
running the company
However, back in March, the U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) found that Disney World violated numerous federal wage and labor laws for many years, which dropped many workers below the federal minimum wage rate, which is set at $7.25 an hour which is about a dollar less than Florida's minimum wage rate.

According to our sources inside the U.S. Dept. of Labor, Disney systematically failed to pay employees overtime for mandatory pre- and post-shift duties that Disney required its workers to perform 15 minutes before and after their shifts.

Thus, the worldwide media conglomerate was getting an extra 30 to 40 minutes of free labor from its workers for years, who were required to clock in 15 to 20 minutes before the start and after the end of shift to perform extra work duties without being compensated for as Disney did not want to clock these hours for pay.

While the company was only required to pay a one-time fine of $3.8 million to cast members affected by the DoL agreement, it still showed that Disney as an employer can't be trusted at their word.

“It’s disappointing,” Magic Kingdom parking hostess Susie Easton said. “And I speak on behalf of all my fellow cast members when I say we deserve more.”

While Disney bus driver Steven Brainard said, “It’s sickening how they make millions and they give us little pennies here and there.”


Disney has quickly gain a reputation in recent years of being one of the least trusted and worst employers to work for America.

Disney has been previously accused by human rights advocacy groups of employing
child laborers and implementing sweat shop work conditions in its factories overseas
They have been involved in a number of labor lawsuits and government regulatory actions which demonstrated they have been systematically implementing unfair labor practices. (See articles listed below.)

To work at the "Happiest Place on Earth," a typical cast member must be fully available to work anytime during the week at the company's discretion.

The unpredictability of this kind of improvised schedule makes it very difficult for cast members to find second jobs to make ends meet. Disney's wages are known to among the lowest among all employers, even in the lowly service industry. Thus, most cast members cannot make a living wage working for the cartoon mouse.


Negotiations between Disney officials and Unite Here Local 737 are expected to continue on September 19.

Sources: 

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