Officials and members from Unite Here Central Florida, the unions representing 38,000 Walt Disney World cast members, held a press conference today announcing that the Service Trades Council Union (STCU) has filed an unfair labor practices lawsuit against Disney.
The unions have been in negotiations with Disney since last July, with the most recent offer in December rejected by over 93% of the voting cast members. That offer would have given full and part-time cast members a 50 cent or 3 percent raise per year for two years, whichever was higher.
According to the lawsuit, Disney has told the union that members would not receive the $1,000 bonus announced in January, unless they accept the most recent offer. More than 125,000 full-time and part-time cast members are set to receive the bonus, beginning with $500 in March.
According to Eric Clinton, president of Unite Here Local 362, “Today, Disney made a proposal in wage negotiations that our members would only receive that $1,000 bonus IF we accepted the same 50 cent raise we just rejected in December. In other words, Disney said, ‘you can have $1,000 if you agree to stay poor.'”
According to Clinton, all other eligible cast members would still be receiving the $1,000 bonus.
Clinton adds, “Disney is discriminating against us for having a union locked in negotiations.”
Disney has yet to respond to the lawsuit or any allegations from the union. We will continue to follow this story.
Images: Unite Here Central Florida / WFTV
