Disneyland Pact Voted Down Again : Labor: Union officials will decide today whether to accept the three-year contract anyway. Employees say they’re concerned about fewer benefits for new hires.

In a surprising vote, Disneyland workers in five unions on Monday narrowly rejected a proposed contract, the same one they turned down a few weeks ago.

The three-year master services agreement, which was rejected Monday by a vote of 742 to 729, would have provided a 3% pay increase each year.

But under that agreement, union leaders have the authority to accept the contract offer anyway, if at least one third of the membership voted for it. Mort Baum, a negotiator with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 324, said the unions’ executive boards would meet today to decide whether to do that.

Union officials, who unanimously recommended the contract both times, said they believed a considerable amount of misinformation had spread among employees before the first vote. Some workers, for example, falsely assumed that the contract proposal included reductions in medical benefits and changes in promotion policies, officials said.

This time, said Bob Lennox, secretary treasurer of Teamsters Local 495, “I thought it would narrowly pass.”

But some employees said they were concerned about a contract clause that excludes new employees from retirement, health and welfare benefits.

“All this will do is create another class structure,” said Steve Valkenburg, a shop steward for the Hotel and Restaurants Local 681. “The new workers will always look at the older generation and think that they sold them out.”

Others said they oppose the contract because they are seeking a larger wage increase.

Sue Kemp, a 24-year veteran merchandise hostess with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 324, says a raise of 4% or 5% would have been fair.

“They work us too hard, and they just don’t pay us enough,” Kemp said.

The contract covers about 3,000 members of the park’s work force, which ranges from 9,000 in winters to 12,000 in summers. Those covered under the contract include all ride operators, food servers and janitors. Disneyland is Orange County’s largest private employer.

The other unions covered by the master agreement include the Teamsters, Bakery and Confection Workers and Service Employees International. Disneyland workers covered under the contract earn $7 to $12 an hour.

Union members, voting by mail, initially had rejected the company’s offer by a vote of 848 to 805 Sept. 30. This time, union members voted in person at the theme park and at one of the union’s offices in Buena Park, where shop stewards and other leaders were available to respond to questions and concerns about the offer.