Chanting turned to cheering Wednesday as Walt Disney World union members overwhelmingly voted ‘No’ on a contract that would have given employees a raise of at least 50 cents an hour. Disney says “they are disappointed”, and they believe the 6 to 10 percent wage increase was fair but they will continue to work with the union on negotiations.
UNITE HERE is the largest union at Disney Orlando. Tonight, we made our voices heard, and turned down poverty wages. This is democracy. This is union. This is UNITE HERE.
🔥🗳❌✊🏻✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿#unitehere #1u #DisneyRaise pic.twitter.com/CHYHFQer6q
— UNITE HERE #SaveTPS (@unitehere) December 21, 2017
New Disney employees earn $10 an hour currently, but the union wants to raise average worker pay to $15 an hour in an effort to reduce poverty among their represented members.
Almost 10,000 votes were cast, the highest turnout ever for the Service Trades Council Union and approximately 93 percent of dues-paying members voted to turned down the two-year contract. The STCU has been negotiating wages with Disney and is a coalition of six unions representing nearly 36,000 Walt Disney World cast members.
Thousands of Disney union workers in Orlando are voting on whether to approve a contract for a #DisneyRaise The largest unions say their members plan to vote no pic.twitter.com/mDGyH6ZpVR
— Monivette Cordeiro (@monivettec) December 20, 2017
The rejected offer would have seen full and part-time cast members receive a 50 cent or 3 percent raise per year for two years, whichever was higher for the cast member, retroactive to Sept. 24. They also would have seen a $200 bonus. Cast members who receive tips would not be eligible for the wage increase, but would qualify for the $200 payout.
Disney says they already pay $2-per-hour more than the federally required minimum wage and it seems unlikely the workers will actually see $15 an hour. The final outcome effects employers throughout the Orlando area as their employee wages usually follow Disney’s very closely. In 2014 Disney agreed to raise the minimum wage to $10-per-hour by 2016 and other unionized and non-unionized companies followed suit, including Universal Orlando.
The next step for the unions appears to be in February, where they will regroup for further negotiations.