People walk toward the entrance to Disneyland on April 24, 2023 in Anaheim, California.
Mario Tama | Getty Images
Four unions representing more than 14,000 workers at Disney’s theme parks and resorts in Southern California announced late Friday that members have voted to authorize a strike, citing alleged unfair labor practices during contract negotiations.
Unions say thousands of workers at Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, the Downtown Disney retail district and Disney-owned hotels have agreed to strike.
If the strike goes ahead, it would be the first strike at Disneyland in 40 years.
The unions said “99% of the membership voted in favor of authorizing the Disney Workers Rising bargaining committee to call a strike for unfair labor practices.” That doesn’t mean there will be an immediate strike, but it has been authorized.
“Instead of working with us to reach a fair contract, Disney has engaged in multiple instances of what we allege are unfair labor practices, including disciplining, intimidating, and illegally monitoring union members exercising their right to wear union badges at work,” the Disney Workers Bargaining Committee said in a statement ahead of the vote.
“We know these actions are simply an attempt to prevent us from exercising our rights and to bind us to a contract that maintains the status quo at Disney,” the bargaining committee added.
The knots mentioned here depict a Mickey Mouse style white glove raised into a fist.
The Walt Disney Company did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday morning.
The workers at the center of the labor struggle include custodians, ride operators, candy makers and sales clerks at the popular theme park and resort complex, a pillar of Southern California’s tourist economy.
A Downtown Disney billboard near Disneyland on April 24, 2023 in Anaheim, California.
Mario Tama | News Getty Images | Getty Images
These workers — referred to in company jargon as “cast members” — entered contract negotiations with the entertainment giant on April 24. Nearly two months later, on June 10, Disney workers announced that they had filed a lawsuit against the company for unfair labor practices.
The allegations involving more than 675 workers are now being investigated by the National Labor Relations Board, an independent federal agency that enforces labor laws.
“We will not accept less than we deserve because we know our value to Disney. The profits of the theme parks come from our hard work to make a trip to Disneyland a magical experience for visitors. By undermining our rights, Disney only makes our fight to help visitors and keep our parks safe more difficult,” the bargaining committee said.
In recent years, labor scholars have drawn public attention to the economic hardships of workers at Disneyland and other major theme parks across the country.
For example, in early 2018, researchers at Occidental College and the Economic Roundtable, a nonprofit research group, released a report found that 74% of Disneyland employees were unable to cover basic monthly expenses. The report surveyed employees who had experienced homelessness, food insecurity, and other challenges.
In an internal survey of union members conducted earlier this year, 28% of Disneyland cast members said they experienced food insecurity, 33% said they experienced housing insecurity in the last year, and 42% said they had to miss work for medical treatment because they didn’t have enough sick leave.
A Disneyland billboard on April 24, 2023 in Commerce, California.
Mario Tama | News Getty Images | Getty Images
Unions said that when the strike was announced, 64% of crew members were spending more than half their monthly salaries on rent.
“Disneyland bills itself as ‘The Happiest Place on Earth’ [but] “The reality for park employees is largely one of economic hardship,” union workers said in a statement ahead of Friday’s vote.
The four unions representing workers are the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Mills (BCTGM) Local 83; Service Workers International Union-United Service Workers of the West (SEIU-USWW); Truckers Local 495; and United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 324.
Cast member contracts at Disneyland expire June 16. Cast member contracts at Disney California Adventure and Downtown Disney expire September 30.
The last time Disneyland went on strike was in September 1984, when nearly 2,000 cast members 22 days off.
Despite the vote authorizing a strike, negotiations are not over.
The Disney workers’ bargaining committee said it has committed to returning to the bargaining table on Monday and Tuesday.
However, the commission said the right to strike allows the bargaining committee to call a strike at any time.
