Today is the final day of planned negotiations between the Walt Disney World Resort and the STCU – the largest Disney World Cast Member union collective with more than 40,000 members. Of course, we’ve been here before. As we’ve covered here at BlogMickey.com, Disney and the STCU have been negotiating over higher wages and other benefits since August. Negotiations have failed multiple times and the STCU turned up the heat yesterday with a Cast Member, sandwiched by talks with Disney.
The union has made it pretty clear – they want $18/hr right now for everyone and a path to $20/hr. Disney is offering to get to the $20/hr mark, but just on a slower timeline that draws raises out at $1/year over 5 years. As Disney and the STCU sit down for another round of negotiations today, Disney has offered a statement on the situation (via Orlando Sentinel):
We have presented a strong and meaningful offer that far outpaces Florida minimum wage by at least $5 an hour and immediately takes starting wages for certain roles including bus drivers, housekeepers and culinary up to a minimum of $20 an hour while providing a path to $20 for all other full-time, non-tipped STCU roles during the contract term.
The Disney Parks division of the company recorded record revenue in fiscal 2022 at more than $28 billion. That said, profits missed Wall Street expectations and former Disney CEO Bob Chapek was fired. Before he left, Chapek announced a hiring freeze for most parts of the company and layoffs for select parts of the company. In Bob Iger’s first town hall meeting since being brought back to run Disney, he said that the hiring freezes will remain in place and that his focus will be on the Media side of the company in these first weeks and months.
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!