Disneyland Protesters Arrested

jpg_protest210 How traumatic it must have been for the children visiting Disneyland yesterday, August 14, 2008, to see their beloved Disney characters handcuffed and loaded into police vans.

This is what kids saw on Thursday at the Anaheim, California's Disneyland; Tinkerbell, Snow White and Cinderella, to name a few, were carted off to jail during a labor protest.  I don't think the 'Happiest Place on Earth' was so happy yesterday.

The 32 protesters, many of whom wore costumes representing famous Disney characters, came at the end of an hour-long march to Disneyland's gates from one of three Disney-owned hotels at the center of a labor dispute, according to MercuryNews.com.

The protesters were members of the Unite Here Local 681, made up of about 2,300 maids, bell hops, cooks and dishwashers at three Disney-owned hotels: the Paradise Pier, the Grand Californian and the Disneyland Hotel.

Their dispute is over non-competitive wages, trying to cut their hours, and taking away their seniority; but the biggest issue is with health care.

From the Mercury News:

At the heart of the issue is a free health care plan that has been provided to Disney hotel workers through a trust fund that Disney and other unionized hotels in the area pay into.

Briceno said that in exchange for the free medical plan, union members agreed in previous contracts to a lower wage for hotel workers in the first three years of their employment.

But Disney now wants to eliminate the free health plan for new hires and wants to create a new class of workers who put in less than 30 hours a week, said Briceno. Those part-time workers would receive no sick or vacation pay and not be given holidays, she said.

They are hopeful that they will reach an agreement soon. 

It is disturbing that Disney whose name is synonymous with family…isn't taking care of their worker's families.

1 Comment

  1. Weird! I checked and can’t find a time of day as to when the actual protest occurred on Thursday.

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