The vote among Disney employees on the new contract proposal is now finished. The Disney contract offer was rejected following a vote by hundreds of union members. Disney suggested an annual raise of $1 per hour, with a nearly 10% salary raise in the first year. According to Disney, the offer called for a 16% hourly pay increase for nearly 1/3 of the STCU cast members.
Disney earlier made the following statement to WESH 2 News: “This very strong offer provides our cast members with a nearly 10% average increase immediately and guaranteed raises for the next four years with every single non-tipped cast member promised at least a $20 starting wage during the contract, and the majority seeing a 33% to 46% increase during that time,” Disney wrote.
When voting on the proposal came to a close at 5 p.m. on Friday, the results revealed that 14,263 people had cast ballots. Adding to it, 96% of them had chosen not to accept the offer.
According to a union member, the proposed contract needed to be revised. “I voted no on Disney’s contract proposal because $1 is not enough. I live in a motel and struggle to make ends meet. Many of us can’t afford food to eat for lunch. It’s very insulting that Disney thinks this is all we deserve,” Mike Beaver, a member of UNITE HERE Local 362, said in a statement.
Proposal of Walt Disney World service employees was rejected by Union members
Another employee at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa spoke about her reasons for rejecting the contract offer. “I voted no because I’m standing in solidarity with the 30,000 workers who are only getting offered a $1 raise. Us housekeepers work extremely hard to bring the magic to Disney, but we need to pay our bills with magic. We will fight until we win what we need for ourselves and our families,” Vilane Raphael said.
After the vote was over, a Disney representative released the following statement to WESH 2: “Our strong offer provides more than 30,000 cast members a nearly 10% on average raise immediately, as well as retroactive increased pay in their paychecks, and we are disappointed that those increases are now delayed,” Disney spokesperson Andrea Finger wrote.
A contract proposal affecting tens of thousands of Walt Disney World service employees was rejected by union members. The ministers felt it fell short of helping workers cope with rising housing and other costs in central Florida.
The unions said that 13,650 of the 14,263 members who cast ballots on the contract on Friday rejected Disney’s offer, forcing the parties to resume their current negotiations from August. The contract covers nearly 45,000 service personnel at the Disney resort outside Orlando.