New triumph for unionism in the United States. Employees who dress in costumes of popular Disney characters and take part in parades at the California amusement park have approved joining a union organization. The vote corrects one of the anomalies within the company, since this group of workers, about 1,700 people in total, was one of the few within the gigantic corporation that was not organized as a union, despite being one of the most public faces. from the entertainment giant.
Until Monday afternoon, Disney has not made public its position on the vote of its employees, which occurred on Saturday. Some 1,211 workers participated in the process after a campaign lasting several months that began in February. This had the objective of endorsing or not that the “cast members”, as the company calls them, were represented at the negotiating table with the company by Actor’s Equity, a union organization with 51,000 members, mainly actors and theater professionals.
79% voted in favor of joining the union. The unofficial count, which must be certified throughout this week, showed that 953 were in favor of Yes and some 258 employees were in favor of No. To be a binding decision, 50% plus one had to approve the union with Equity. The union has described it as an “overwhelming” result.
“These employees are at the forefront of the customer experience; They are human beings who create memories that last a lifetime when one of them hugs your children or when your family watches one of their parades. The next step is to collaborate with them to improve their health and safety, their wages, benefits and working conditions,” Kate Shindle, the president of Equity, said Saturday afternoon.
The union believes it has a good relationship with Disney. Equity already represents those who wear the costumes of Mickey, Minnie, Snow White, Cinderella, Donald Duck and several other characters, at the Orlando amusement park, Walt Disney World. They also defend the rights of the casts in the company’s plays on Broadway.
What follows is Equity’s first negotiation with Disneyland, the park that opened its doors in 1955 in the city of Anaheim, California. With more than 25 million visitors a year, it is one of the most visited for the company in the world, behind those in Florida.
For this, however, the company must recognize the union. If it considers that the election is illegal, Equity can take the case to a national arbitration body, which will determine the next steps to take. Although this is unlikely to happen, since this election has been endorsed by the National Labor Relations Board.
The vote comes months after company executives pointed to amusement parks as the main business in the future and in times of uncertainty due to the rapid transformation of the audiovisual industry and the streaming. Last September, Bob Iger, the CEO, announced the investment of $60 billion in his resorts in the United States and around the world to attract more audiences.
A recently released survey found that 41% of California workers have experienced at least one serious workplace violation in the past year. These include working after hours without extra pay, not receiving even the minimum wage (16 dollars and 20 for fast food restaurant workers), not paying for sick days. 58% of employees were not respected the rest to which they are entitled by law, according to the survey of 980 workers in the hospitality, retail and other services sectors carried out by the San Francisco campus of the state university.
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