Disney CEO Bob Chapek has responded to a letter Senator Elizabeth Warren sent Disney by calling it “ill-considered and misleading”. Warren, as you may remember, called Disney’s recent business decisions such as restoring executive pay amidst 28,000 Cast Member layoffs “short-sighted”, accusing Disney of “showing its top executives with over-the-top compensation packages and salaries.” Disney reportedly restored executive pay to pre-pandemic levels back in August.
In a letter to Warren (via CNN), Chapek said “[the] indictment that our past actions somehow weakened our financial cushion and our ability to retain and pay workers amid the pandemic is ill-considered and misleading.”
“As you are well aware, this unprecedented crisis has had a devastating impact on companies nationwide, and businesses large and small have had to take the difficult steps required to weather the impact,” Chapek added.
“As the pandemic persisted, we had to make the difficult decision to furlough employees while continuing to pay the full cost of their health coverage,” Chapek continued. “More than six months after closing our domestic parks, with the outcome of the pandemic still very uncertain, we had no choice to lay off a number of non-working employees.”
“As we have stated, given the ongoing uncertainties of this pandemic, including limits on capacity to promote social distancing, and the State of California’s refusal to permit a safe reopening any time soon, it unfortunately is not feasible to pay non-working employees indefinitely”, Chapek said.
Warren went on to say that “Disney won’t answer my questions because it has no good answers. The company said it was simply unfeasible to keep paying workers yet had no explanation for how it was feasible to restore senior executive pay.”
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!