Broke Hoedown

Not recommended for Disney purists or the easily offended, it’ll just get yer hackles up. (Though I’m guessing none of those folks read this blog anyway, now do they?)

And hey, don’t watch this one with the kids either, unless you feel like explaining what fellatio is.

The Disney Blog sums things up pretty well:

Members of the Service Trades Council approved essentially the same contract during the second vote last night. It lost by a 2% margin the first time around and won by a 6% margin this time. Translation: 47% of voters are still unhappy with the terms of the contract. That means there is likely some acrimony out there as a couple quotes in the Orlando Sentinel reveals.

The Orlando Sentinel has the details.

The Disney Blog reports:

The Service Trades Council, which represents 21,000 of the 50,000 jobs at Walt Disney World, will vote for a second time on a new contract June 6th. The previous vote was defeated by a 2% margin of just a few hundred votes and I think Disney and the Unions are hoping that a re-vote will swing the other way.

When I think back on magical moments from my Disney trips, it’s clear that Cast Members had a lot to do with making my trips special. The monorail drivers who chatted amiably with us in the front car, and maybe even gave my dear son a trading card or two. The ride attendant who noticed we’d been riding Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters nonstop for two hours, and slipped us extra Fast Passes when the lines started to creep up. The pin trader who miraculously produced a Donald Duck pin when my son mentioned offhand that he collects ducks.

It’s only right that these Cast Members have affordable health care, living wages, and fair scheduling. WeAreDisney.info is a new web site launched Tuesday by five unions representing Walt Disney World workers in ongoing contract negotiations. From their front page:

We are the hard working men and women dedicated to creating the wonder of Walt Disney World. We are the “Cast Members” who make visiting Disney a magical experience. We are park attendants, costumed characters, food servers, bartenders, cooks, housekeepers, bell staff, merchandise workers, bus drivers, stage technicians, monorail and watercraft operators and many more.

We work hard so you and your family can enjoy a dream come true, but more and more we are finding our own families’ security eroding. Our wages are not keeping up and we’re being asked to shoulder more and more of our health care costs. Walt Disney World is turning good service jobs into dead-end jobs.

Join us in our fight and learn what you can do to improve the lives of thousands of Disney workers. Together, we can ensure that a promising future for working families is more than just a dream.

I encourage you to stop by their web site, read their stories, and consider signing their petition.

From the L.A. Times, “Disney ‘fairy tale’ isn’t for everyone:”

The job description is simple: Make the customers believe that Disneyland is “a magic kingdom where life is a fairy tale and dreams really do come true.”

But at the end of the workday, many of the people who work at the “Happiest Place on Earth” sleep on air mattresses, in by-the-week motel rooms and in apartments shared with other families.

“I’ve been at this motel since 1997,” said Derrick, a Disney security guard who pays $209 a week rent. He spoke to me Thursday night while standing in the doorway of the room he shares with two elderly aunts at Arena Inn and Suites in Anaheim, about a mile from his job.

The article interviews other Disneyland CMs and others in Anaheim tourism jobs, talking about their outrageous commutes and living situations, based on the low wages and high cost of housing in Anaheim.

I’m too big of a Disney fan to ever stop going to the parks. But I sure would enjoy the parks more if I felt the CMs were paid well-enough to live in decent housing, and if Disney would support affordable housing in the area.

DIS News reports: Hundreds protest after closure of factory that made Disney souvenirs in China.

[Vivian] Yau [spokeswoman of Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior, a Hong Kong-based labor group] said Huangxing once employed more than 1,000 workers and used to make merchandise like key chains for the Walt Disney Co.

The Post quoted an unidentified worker who said that about 80 percent of the factory’s goods were once made for Disney. But Disney canceled all orders after the factory was accused of exploiting workers, the paper quoted the employee as saying.

BoingBoing’s got the scoop once again: They’ve got a link to the Disney Employee Manual from 1943, courtesy of Cartoon Brew. Once again, a good companion piece for those of us reading that new Walt Disney bio.

From CartoonBrew:

Ever wonder what it was like to work at the Disney Studio during the Golden Age of Animation? Think it was the “happiest place on Earth”? Think again. This 1943 booklet, given to all new employees, spelled it out for you. Gals ain’t allowed in the Penthouse Club, personal phone calls will be charged to you, and if you need to leave the studio, you cannot do so without an “Off the Lot Pass”. Oh, and “Any violation of the U. S. Espionage Act” will get you discharged.

As HumuHumu points out on BoingBoing, this is also best viewed within the context of the war years.

The Orlando Sentinel has an update on Disney’s talks with the unions:

This round of talks comes soon after union frustration heated up late last year regarding Disney’s efforts to get private contractors to take over some work at Disney World and some hotels.

In the past 15 or 16 months, Disney World has transferred nearly 600 jobs, involving some hotel maids, park custodians, valet, bell-service and baggage-handling workers, and production technicians. To date the moves have eliminated only about 1 percent of Disney World’s nearly 60,000 jobs, and the company insisted that all its affected employees were offered other Disney World jobs at comparable pay.

The article goes on to mention a page on the union’s web site with a parody of Year of a Million Dreams. If anybody can find the right page, please post it here or mail it to me . . . I’d love to see the images, and Google isn’t being very nice to me.