Disney Hotel Talks Resume
Both sides in the labor talks between Walt Disney Co. management and the union representing about 1,300 hotel and restaurant workers at two Disney hotels in Anaheim say they are optimistic about reaching a settlement as negotiations resume a month after their contract expired.
Wages and healthcare benefits are the sticking points. The previous four-year contract expired last month and has been extended to Thursday.
Before last month’s negotiations began, union officials said that Disney officials were sending intimidating letters to workers’ homes, warning that they could be fired or otherwise disciplined for demonstrating over the contract talks.
Despite the warning, about 300 employees turned out for a candlelight vigil and march in December, criticizing Disney’s tactics and drawing attention to the labor negotiations.
Since then, tensions have eased, and both sides said they were cautiously optimistic heading into negotiations scheduled for Thursday.
“Prior to negotiations, it was really bad. The tactics they used were not the best,” said Ada Torres, president of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union Local 681.
“Now, I believe they understand that the workers are serious. “We’re just waiting to see what happens,” Torres said.
The union has about 7,000 members in Orange County and Long Beach.
The contract would cover about 1,300 employees at the Disneyland and Paradise Pier hotels -- including housekeepers, bartenders, bellmen, dishwashers and cooks.
Torres said the average employee makes less than $10 an hour.
“It’s very difficult to live in the state -- let alone this county -- with these wages,” she said.
Salvador Guillen, 38, works full time as a houseman at Disney’s Paradise Pier hotel.
The Anaheim resident earns $240 weekly and pays $34 a week in health insurance to cover his wife and three children.
Guillen’s wife also works full time as a housekeeper at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel.
Their wages are not enough to support their family, he said, so he also cleans floors part time at a grocery store.
The union also is pushing the company to lower health insurance costs, allow workers the option of choosing medical insurance under the union’s plan, rather than a Disney health plan, or increase health and welfare contributions to the union.
Disney spokeswoman Sondra Haley declined to comment on the specifics of the negotiations, but said: “We have had productive discussions with the union and agreed to extend the current contract.”
About 20,000 employees work at the Disneyland Resort, and are covered by 16 contract agreements with various unions. In 1984, 1,800 park employees went on strike for 22 days.
