Disney, Union Reach Accord

The Walt Disney Co. and the union representing hotel and restaurant workers at two Disney hotels said they reached a contract agreement early Tuesday.

“We’re very happy,” said Ada Torres, president of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Union Local 681. “It’s a huge victory for us.”

Union members will vote on the proposed contract Thursday.

Torres said the three-day negotiation yielded a contract that would include higher wages and less expensive health care for workers.

The 1,300 employees -- mostly bartenders, bellmen, dishwashers, cooks and housekeepers -- at the Disneyland and Paradise Pier hotels in Anaheim would earn 40 cents an hour more this year and receive a 45-cent-an-hour raise for each of the following three years, according to Torres.

The union also negotiated to receive higher health-care contributions from Disney, which means union members would not have to pay for coverage, Torres said.

“We got Disney to think outside their scope of things,” she said.

Torres said the only major concession the union made was to allow new hotel employees to start at 80% of the salary of current employees.