Yesterday, hundreds of Walt Disney World’s unionized Cast Members held a rally near the resort’s entrance, demanding a raise in wage. As WFTV reports, the assembly was later broken up by deputies after nearly two hours of demonstrators chanting and marching through crosswalks. Currently, Disney’s unionized workers, which includes around 38,000 Cast Members, earn a minimum of $10 an hour but are pushing to increase that to $15. Disney is scheduled to meet with union leaders at the bargaining table, although the company is proposing a far more modest increase.
“We agree that our cast members deserve a raise, which is why we’re offering to increase pay up to 5 percent over the next two years for most existing cast members,” Disney spokeswoman Andrea Finger said. However, Cast Member Janette Weiss told WFTV that wasn’t enough, saying, “We bring the magic to Disney, to all of these people. Well, we need a little bit of magic ourselves to continue to make magic for everyone else.”
Although authorities did disperse the crowd at Thursday’s rally, the event concluded without incident.