Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy file for union vote at Disneyland
Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy file for union vote at Disneyland
Disneyland employees who perform as many of the theme park’s beloved characters have filed to have a vote on whether to join a union, the Actor’s Equity Association, which represents live performers all over the country, from actors on Broadway to strippers in Los Angeles.
It’s kind of surprising that the character performers in Orlando are unionized but the ones in Anaheim are not. I would generally expect California workers to have stronger unions than Florida, especially in the LA area with how unionized production sets are. I would assume Florida is a “right to work” state like most of The South, which undercuts union power by stating that workers are not required to join the union even at unionized shops.
Tangential but Disney is essentially the devil. Both deal in contracts that strip away the core of those signing them, hold absolute power over torturously hot domains, and morph into the form you find most comfortable to seal their fiendish bargains.
I’m having a difficult time finding articles given that the controversy occurred a decade ago but for a while, Disney used foreign teens and young adults as labor in their parks, advertising it as more play than work. Their daily wage would cover their room and food and nothing else despite working full time. They’d fly in, labor constantly for a few weeks, and leave without making money or experiencing the park. Slave labor, but you also pay taxes.
They should enlist Sora's help. They will need him for the fight against the Heartless.