Readers React: Disney earned $4.4 billion last quarter. It can afford to pay Disneyland workers a living wage

To the editor: Gustavo Arellano’s column convinced me that Disneyland treats its employees terribly.

I did a small calculation. If you give a person a $2-per-hour raise, that amounts to $80 per week, or $4,160 annually. For the 29,000 employees seeking a living wage, that comes to about $116 million.

Disney earned $4.4 billion last quarter, which extrapolates to $17.6 billion for the year. So the additional $2 per hour sought by Disneyland workers would amount to roughly 7% of Disney’s yearly income — certainly something that the company could afford.

I hope the Anaheim City Council and city voters are made aware of these numbers. Given the magnitude of Disney’s profits, I can’t believe that the voters and the City Council would be so hardhearted as to decline to pass the living-wage ordinance that would benefit Disneyland employees. What they want is just a small percentage of Disney’s massive profits.

Bill Schmitendorf, Irvine

..

To the editor: It’s about time Anaheim revolted against Disneyland.

I am not a big fan of Disneyland — it’s too expensive. I consider Disneyland, Legoland, Magic Mountain and all the other pricey amusement parks to be glorified carnivals. It’s not a bargain for anyone — the guests or the workers.

I wonder why so many people spend so much money to go to Disneyland. It’s my belief that people do not know how to entertain themselves, so they feel like they must spend huge sums on having fun. Problem is, this sends a message to children about the need to pay so much money for entertainment.

A lot of us buy the Disney mystique, referring to the amusement park as the “Magic Kingdom.” We give in to the hard sell. What happened to Scrabble, Monopoly, jigsaw puzzles, ping-pong and other ways to pass the time without taking on so much debt?

Beverly Franco, Monterey Park

..

To the editor: So, how much did Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger make last year? Something like $36 million? And he can’t pay his workers at Disneyland a living wage?

Ridiculous and pathetic. CEO pay is out of control — no one needs that kind of money.

Jane Wilkens, Monrovia

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook