Disney has reached an agreement with 10 local unions representing Cast Members and employees at the Disneyland Resort regarding the temporary furlough set to start on April 19th.
What’s happening:
- The Orange County Register is reporting that Disneyland Resort has reached an agreement with 10 unions regarding temporary furloughs amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The unions that have reached agreements with the Resort represent workers in the following departments:
- Food and beverage
- Pyrotechnics
- Sound mechanics
- Stage management and technicians
- The 10 unions to reach a furlough agreement with Disneyland Resort include:
- Workers United Local 50
- Master Services Council
- Craft Maintenance Council
- International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees locals 706, 504 and 923
- Laborers’ Local 652
- Operating Engineers Local 501
- Teamsters Local 495
- Independent Employee Service Association
- Notably, some of the agreements include pension, full-time hours, and seniority protection, health coverage retention, and educational benefits.
- Of the 31,000 Cast Members that work at Disneyland, 28,000 are members of the local unions.
What they’re saying:
- Disney in a statement: “Disney has reached agreements with several unions for hourly cast members that will maintain members’ health insurance benefits coverage, educational support and additional employee assistance programs during a temporary furlough effective April 19. These agreements provide an easier return to work when our community recovers from the impact of COVID-19. We are grateful to have worked together in good faith to help our cast members navigate these unprecedented times.”
- Craft Maintenance Council chairman Ernesto Medrano: “In these difficult times the leadership of the unions of the Craft Maintenance Council were able to roll up our sleeves and work collaboratively with Disney. We appreciate them reaching out to us quickly. The elements of our agreement are important, especially health care and other additional benefits that will help our members through this and get back to work.”
ICYMI:
- Earlier this month, both Disneyland and Walt Disney World announced they would begin furloughing non-essential, non-union employees on April 19th. This affects workers holding positions at the temporarily closed parks, but also hotel, restaurant, and retail employees across the entire resort.
- Yesterday it was revealed that Disneyland had reached an agreement with the union representing Security Cast Members.
- Additionally, over in Florida, Walt Disney World and the American Federation of Musicians also came to an agreement for the furlough period.
- Disney executives will also be seeing temporary pay cuts, including CEO Bob Chapek, taking a 50% cut and Executive Chairman Bob Iger forgoing 100% of his salary at this time.