While in the midst of negotiations with the Walt Disney Company, the 28 puppeteers from Disney California Adventure‘s version of Disney Junior – Live on Stage! have learned that the current show would be closing in April and would reopen later without puppets.
The puppeteers joined the American Guild of Variety Artists in May 2015, looking for better pay and a fitness program to deal with the physically demanding show. Shortly after, the Guild filed complaints on behalf of the puppeteers with the National Labor Relations Board stating that Disney had cut hours and limited puppeteers’ ability to work in other areas of the company due to their attempts to unionize.
The 2015 complaint was eventually settled, but now the Guild is in the middle of negotiating a new contract for the puppeteers, with talks scheduled for mid-March. Several of the puppeteers feel the timing of the closure is retaliation. Puppeteer Ryne Strom adds, “It is too coincidental for it not to be.”
According to Disney spokesperson Suzi Brown, the show will return with new technology replacing the puppets. The puppeteers would be eligible to transfer to other roles in the resort, but the Guild and Disney are still negotiating how the change will affect workers.
The new technology will also allow the show to be updated more quickly as shows come and go on Disney Junior. According to Brown, “We constantly evaluate our entertainment offerings and make changes to provide compelling reasons for our guests to visit time and time again.”
There is no word on any changes coming to the Disney Junior show at Walt Disney World or Disneyland Paris.
Puppeteer Art Vega, who’s been with the show for 14 years, echoes the feelings of his colleagues when he says, “It’s really disappointing and heartbreaking that a company would take people who have worked extremely hard over the years and treat us this way.”
The last performance for the puppeteers is scheduled for April 9, 2017.
Source: Los Angeles Times
Image: Disney
