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Seeking to cut the bad publicity about workers sleeping in their cars and relying on union food banks, Walt Disney Co agreed to raise its minimum wage from $ 11 an hour to $ 15.
Ticket takers, drivers, cleaners, store employees and truck and bus drivers from the Disneyland Resort in Southern California, often dubbed "the happiest place in world, "agreed to break the hunger strike had planned on Friday
Disney and local business leaders were quick to welcome a" historic "and" unprecedented "agreement, but members of the The station's two largest unions, representing catering and hospitality workers, were not included. Nor many thousands of non-union workers. Disneyland employs approximately 30,000 people, while the agreement covers approximately 8,600.
"We are the largest Disneyland syndicate and we are not included in this contract," Christopher Duarte, President of Workers United Local 50, which represents food service workers, told the Guardian. "It's a progress, but it can not be the end result, it's not the solution to our problems."
The scene is now ready for a brutal confrontation on an initiative to be presented to voters in Anaheim in November to extend the minimum wage of $ 15 per hour to employees of any large company that the ballot initiative, which targets a large local hotel developer and Disneyland, is planning new Salary increases of up to $ 18 at the time of 2022, during which time the minimum wage imposed by the state will be $ 15. A consortium of local business interests has already sought to define the voting initiative as a "job killer" that would discourage investment and make everyone poorer.
The champions of the initiative, meanwhile, say that it is intolerable that taxpayers should spend hundreds of millions of dollars in business grants only to have to spend millions of dollars more in public assistance to workers living on the margins of poverty
"If you are going to take money from the city and taxpayers money, you should be offering good jobs," Duarte said. "What the pay agreement shows today is that Disney can do better. They have the economic strength to take care of their "cast members" and pay them more.
Disney has been fighting a losing battle for months to get rid of accusations that he has grossed up his company's bottom line. the expense of its workers. Robert Iger, the general manager of the company, estimates that this year, general manager Robert Iger is expected to realize $ 100 million in shares and cash bonuses if Disney 's acquisition of the divisions of 21st Century Fox's entertainment continues. [19659010] Bob Iger with his wife in Sun Valley, Idaho. The CEO is expected to make more than $ 100 million from the possible acquisition of 21st Century Fox. "src =" https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/aae5adc115b4e0bc08800d04779014a7a9d4f366/0_331_6095_3657/master/6095.jpg?w=300&q=55&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&s=a01b15157bbd838bf27e88bddc0dfed7 "/>
A study sponsored by the union and published in February revealed that real wages had dropped by 15% since 2000. Nearly three-quarters of workers said they could not cover their living expenses and 11% had lost their homes. .
Disney sought to describe the study as unscientific and inaccurate, but the unions used it as a significant bargaining chip in their contract negotiations. Meanwhile, newspapers from around the world recounted the story of a 61-year-old night porter who died alone in his car and who was only discovered three weeks later, until The stench of his decaying body attracts attention.
Sanders, the former Democratic presidential candidate, staged a rally in Anaheim last month to demand economic justice. He also sponsored a letter signed by 22 other congressmen urging Iger to pay his workers a living wage.
Less than a month later, Disneyland offered the four unions bargaining an increase in the minimum wage from $ 11 to $ 13.25 at the end of June, and an increase to $ 15 from the 1st January.
Josh D'Amaro, the director of the Disneyland station, said in a statement that the wage agreement was an "investment in our distribution". better salary and career advancement in the future. But local political leaders and unions have recognized a significant and growing disparity between the cost of living in and around Anaheim and the salaries offered by the city's largest employer.
A study published in 2017 by a consortium and business leaders said that a worker earning a little under $ 20 an hour should work 70 hours a week to earn money. offer a two bedroom apartment. The thinktank that produced the union-sponsored study estimates that Disneyland workers would ideally need $ 23 an hour to make ends meet.
