Disneyland, Unions Reach Tentative Pact : Labor: The contract, crafted with representatives of about 3,000 workers, includes 3% pay hikes in each of three years.

Despite being far apart all week on key issues, Disneyland and five unions that represent about 3,000 workers at the Anaheim park reached a tentative agreement early Friday on a new three-year contract.

It provides for a 3% pay hike for all workers in each of the next three years--better than what most unions have been able to negotiate in recent months. The deal came together after a 20-hour session that ended at 4 a.m., four hours after the last contract expired.

The Disneyland unions also fended off company attempts to alter promotion rules, and the two sides settled differences over whether workers can take their uniforms home--a seemingly trivial but prickly issue during the talks.

The tentative pact was endorsed unanimously by the unions’ bargaining committee and is expected to be approved by members next week.

“We feel pretty good about it,” said Mort Baum, a negotiator with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union in Buena Park.

Baum’s union, the Teamsters, the Service Employees International, the Hotel and Restaurant Employees and the Bakery and Confection Workers represent about a third of all Disneyland workers, including ride operators, store clerks, janitors and ticket takers.

Disneyland officials had no immediate comment on the agreement.

Negotiations began in early August. Though a strike was seen as highly unlikely, the two sides seemed to be far apart as late as Thursday night. A big sticking point, according to the unions, was Disneyland’s attempt to use skill and ability in determining promotions, without regard for length of service.

About half of the 3,000 workers represented by the five unions are considered “casual regulars” and as such do not receive health insurance or other benefits. These workers will continue to be promoted into jobs that provide benefits on the basis of seniority.

Although the 3% annual wage increase is only slightly higher than inflation in recent years, it is still about double the annual wage gains in major contracts settled on the West Coast in the last year, according to Labor Department reports. On average, the 3,000 Disneyland workers covered in this contract earn between $7 and $12 an hour, union officials said.

Another issue that rankled the two sides had to do with whether workers could take their uniforms home with them. In the past, workers picked up their smocks and other Disneyland outfits once they got to the park, and management gave them 15 minutes of paid time at the end of their shifts to change.

Some union representatives objected to workers being allowed to take their uniforms home, fearing that it could mean less work for those at Disneyland who dispense and wash the uniforms. Other union officials were concerned that Disneyland would take away the 15-minute allowance to change uniforms.

In the end, the two sides agreed to let individual workers decide whether they would take their uniforms home with them. And it was agreed that those workers would be able to leave 15 minutes earlier, though they would have to wash and care for the uniforms themselves.