Just a week after workers at Disney’s Anaheim-based parks and hotels voted in favor of authorizing a strike that could’ve seen the first walkout at Disneyland in 40 years, the union coalition Disney Workers Rising has announced the ratification of a new-three year contract.
DWR, a coalition of four unions representing 14,000 workers at both Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure, the “Downtown Disney” shopping and dining district between the two parks, and the various Disney-owned hotels in the area, announced this morning that the new contract will bring the minimum base wage rate for employees up to $24 an hour in 2024, effective immediately with the new contract, with most workers receiving a $6.10 beyond that over the term duration of the contract. Other gains in the contract include improvements to attendance and sick leave policies, as well as new premiums and increased longevity for senior cast members (Disney’s catch-all term for employees at its parks, from cashiers, to ride operators, to custodians and candy makers).
“By ratifying these contracts, Disney cast members have secured historic raises and policies and protections that reflect their role as magic makers in the Disney parks,” the Disney Workers Rising Bargaining Committee said in a statement (via THR). “For months hard-working cast members have stood together at the bargaining table and in the parks to ensure Disney recognized what they bring to the theme park experience, and these contracts are a concrete and direct result of this tireless work.”
Negotiations on the new contract had began at the end of April, ahead of expiration on the current contract for Disneyland employees, which occurred on June 16, and the separate contract for Disney California Adventure and Downtown Disney employees, which had been set to expire September 30. The news comes at an important time for the parks: just days before negotiations on this new contract began, Anaheim City Council unanimously approved a $1.9 billion expansion plan for Disneyland over the next 40 years, including new attractions and lodgings that could bring up to roughly 9,000 jobs over the course of construction, and another roughly 4,600 during eventual operations. All of those new hirings were described at the time as being “100% union labor with a focus on hiring Anaheim residents and veterans.”
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