A 5.5% pay increase, a $761 bonus, a $1,305 transport subsidy, an 80% reimbursement of public transportation costs and $570 for employees who have worked at the Disneyland Park for at least three months as part of a profit share agreement.
That’s the benefits package workers at the Disneyland theme park in Paris, France secured after hundreds of them protested and went on strike for better pay last summer amid high inflation, according to media reports.
Meanwhile in Anaheim, a new three-year contract, ratified on Monday and dubbed historic by union leaders, awards most workers a more than $6 pay increase over three years – the biggest wage increase ever – and bumps the minimum wage to $24 this year for employees.
It also creates a more flexible attendance policy and grants workers with over 10 years of service a $0.50 increase while workers with 20 years of service will get a $2.00 bump in pay.
With the new minimum wage bump, Anaheim workers who are making $19.90 now will see a 31% pay increase through the life of the contract, according to the labor unions.
This week, Disney and labor spokespeople sent statements praising the contract, with union leaders repeatedly calling the deal historic.
Yet neither side would provide any context as to why.
With Disney theme parks in three different continents and four countries across the globe including communist China, it is unclear how the deal reached for workers in Anaheim stacks up against labor deals and negotiations for their counterparts abroad.
It’s also hard to tell how the entertainment juggernaut handles contract negotiations on foreign soil but certain aspects are clear.
In the U.S., France and Japan, there are labor unions who represent workers.
In Anaheim, city officials have a loose partnership of sorts with the company, one where Disney traditionally steers large amounts of campaign contributions to pro-resort candidates in local elections. City officials meanwhile very rarely have any public disagreements with the company and most often support company initiatives requiring public votes.
Recently, FBI agents and independent investigators have publicly stated Disneyland Resort interests exert undue influence over city hall amid a corruption scandal that has rocked Anaheim.
[Read: Anaheim’s Own Look at City Hall Finds Disneyland Resort Businesses Improperly Steer Policymaking]
In China, Disney directly partners with local authorities in Shanghai and Hong Kong in owning and running the parks, according to Disney websites for each city.
Staying Quiet About a ‘Historic’ Labor Deal
Both local union and Disney representatives are not commenting on the agreement workers reached in Paris or if any of the benefits employees are getting there were discussed during negotiations for Anaheim cast members.
Company representatives are also staying silent on how they form and negotiate labor contracts with workers at their Hong Kong and Shanghai theme parks in Communist China or their theme park in Japan.
Jill Estorino, President and Managing Director of Disney Parks International, did not respond to questions on how such agreements are made in China – where local Chinese governments own a share of the parks – and Japan.
Instead, union and Disney spokespeople sent general statements praising the recently approved deal in Anaheim
“By ratifying these contracts, Disney cast members have secured historic raises and policies and protections that reflect their role as magic makers in the Disney parks,” reads a statement from the Disney Workers Rising Bargaining Committee.
“For months hard-working cast members have stood together at the bargaining table and in the parks to ensure Disney recognized what they bring to the theme park experience, and these contracts are a concrete and direct result of this tireless work.”
Sebastian Silva, a spokesperson with Service Employees International Union-United Service Workers West – one of the unions who ratified the contract, did not answer questions about the Paris deal or if unions fought for a profit share agreement or transport subsidy.
Jessica Good, a Disneyland resort spokeswoman, said in a Tuesday email statement that the company was happy to reach an agreement with workers.
“We are pleased that our cast members approved the new agreements, which, along with all we offer as part of our employment experience, demonstrate how much we value and respect them and our profound commitment to their overall well-being,” she said.
Good did not answer questions regarding the agreement with workers reached in Paris or if the company considered or would consider a profit share agreement with Anaheim employees or a transport subsidy.
Disneyland Labor Around the World
In France, Disney’s theme parks are run by Euro Disney Associés with over 18,000 workers at the parks and there are unions who represent workers.
According to a Disney website, 84% of workers there have a permanent contract.
Representatives from the National Union of Autonomous Trade Unions and the French Democratic Confederation of Labour, French trade union confederations, who helped fight for the deal in Paris did not respond to emailed questions Tuesday about the Anaheim contract.
The theme park in Paris opened in 1992.
In Japan, the Tokyo Disneyland theme parks are operated by the Oriental Land Co. which oversees around 20,000 workers at the park.
Workers there are represented by the Oriental Land Friendship Society labor union and contracts are negotiated through collective bargaining.
“As of March 2023, there were 20,832 union members, accounting for 99.9% of all employees, including contract workers, cast members, and show performers, who joined in and after FY 2017, and Theme Park Operation Employees, who joined in and after FY 2019,” reads the company website.
The Tokyo park opened in 1983.
In China, government entities are part owners in the theme parks.
The Shanghai Disney Resort is a joint venture between Disney and the Shanghai Shendi Group – a state-owned company approved by the Shanghai Municipal Government, according to the Shanghai Disney website.
The Hong Kong Disneyland resort is owned by a joint venture company called Hong Kong International Theme Parks Limited.
The Hong Kong government owns 52% of the shares in the company while Disney owns 48%, according to the Hong Kong Disneyland website.
The Hong Kong government also appoints five members to the Board of Directors for the joint company while Disney appoints four board members.
It’s unclear how unions represent workers in each of these theme parks.
The Fight For Better Pay in Anaheim, Orlando
The new contract in Anaheim comes after thousands of workers at the original Disneyland theme park and resort threatened to strike as they pushed for better pay, seniority based raises, better safety protocols and a more flexible attendance policy.
[Read: Disneyland Workers May Soon Strike at ‘The Happiest Place on Earth’]
But a strike at “the Happiest Place on Earth” was avoided when members of the Master Services Council – a coalition of four unions representing 14,000 Disney workers – voted to approve a new three-year contract on Monday.
Monday’s vote comes on the heels of Anaheim officials earlier this year unanimously approving Disneyland Forward, a $2 billion proposal to expand the iconic theme park, with support from a host of Disney workers and numerous labor leaders who said the expansion would create high quality jobs.
If workers decided to walk out, it would have been the first strike at the Anaheim park and resort in 40 years.
Disney workers in France and California are not the only ones who have pushed for better pay in recent years.
Last year in February, Disney World workers in Orlando represented by Service Trades Council Union – a coalition of six unions representing over 40,000 workers – voted down a five-year contract that would have given them a $1 an hour pay increase annually.
In March 2023, those workers approved a contract that raised the minimum wage to $18 from $15 and that would see wages go up $5.50 to $8.60 for employees in Florida by the end of the five-year contract approved last year.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.
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