Strike at wdw?

[Keith]

I'm reading quite a lot about pay talks between disney and the largest union at disney with nearly half of all workers in it, have broken down and they're expecting strikes etc?

Mainly on the issue of health insurance apparently.... anyone know anything else?

[Dawn]

By Sean Mussenden
Sentinel Staff Writer

November 4, 2004

Leaders of Walt Disney World's largest union late Wednesday asked its workers to authorize a strike, after they said contract negotiations with the company had stalled.

The Service Trades Council -- a group of six unions that represents about 40 percent of the resort's work force -- and Disney executives have been haggling for eight months over pay raises and health and retirement benefits.

Union workers have twice voted down Disney's offers, saying the raises and bonuses the company offered were too small, and the increases in health-care plan contributions were too large.

Disney has said the offers were fair and competitive.

The last vote came in early October. Despite weeks of talks, the two sides have not found common ground.

After hours of negotiations, union leaders cut off talks Wednesday and scheduled a vote on the company's latest proposal.

Council head Joe Condo said he would ask his members to vote it down, a move that would give his leadership team the ability to call a strike.

The council has never asked for that authority during past negotiations, he and other union members said.

"We asked for it this time because the company is not being fair," Condo said.

Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Polak characterized the talks as productive, and said executives leading the negotiations were surprised to hear the union was pushing for the strike vote. She said the company would continue to press for an agreement.

"This is the kind of posturing that the union will use, and we're aware of that," Polak said late Wednesday.

Walt Disney World has not had a strike since a group of musicians stopped work in the early 1980s. The Service Trades Council, with more than 20,000 members, has never gone on strike.

Workers can vote to accept Disney's latest proposal, or vote it down.

If they vote down the proposal, it will not automatically trigger a strike. Rather, it would give union leaders the authority to strike. And in the short term, at least, they appear unlikely to use it.

Condo said he would seek the intervention of a federal mediator if his members vote down the proposal.

"We're going to do everything possible to reach an agreement before we have to do something drastic like strike," he said.

Sean Mussenden can be reached at 407-420-5664 or smussenden@orlandosentinel.com

[Dawn]

But...

Walt Disney Workers Agree to Contract
Thursday November 4, 8:46 pm ET
By Mike Schneider, AP Business Writer
Walt Disney's Largest Workers Union Agrees to Contract, Averting Strike


ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- After months of contentious negotiations, Walt Disney World and leaders of its largest union group agreed Thursday to a tentative contract that will likely avert a strike at the theme park resort.

A majority of leaders of the Service Trades Council, a coalition of six unions that represents 40 percent of the company's 53,000-person work force, will recommend approval of the three-year contract to its members when they vote on it next Thursday.

Earlier this week, union leaders advised members to reject the latest proposal and authorize union leaders to call a strike if further negotiations and mediation failed. But both sides found common ground during talks that lasted into Thursday evening. The ballot still will ask members to approve the proposal, or reject it and authorize a strike.

The contract covers hotel workers, costumed characters, bus drivers, ticket takers, ride operators and concession workers. Union members rejected two previous proposals.

"Neither side was totally pleased with the package," said Ed Chambers, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, Local 1625. "In my experience, when neither side is really happy, you got the best deal for everybody."

Disney backed down from what union leaders considered a deal-breaker: raising the number of job hours that are allowed to be worked by part-time workers. Union leaders considered it a way for the company to save on health care costs and other benefits given to full-time workers. Under the new proposal, workers will pay more toward their health insurance costs.

Earlier in the day, Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Polak called the contract proposal "fair and competitive."

Chambers said under the latest proposal:

-- Top-scale workers who currently earn $11.12 an hour will get a 20-cents-an-hour increase and a lump sum bonus of between $1,500 and $1,700 during the contract's first year. In the second year, they will get another lump sum, and in the third year they will get a 25-cents-an-hour wage increase.

-- The starting minimum wage currently at $6.70 an hour will increase 10 cents an hour for each year of the contract.

-- New hires will be able to enroll in the company's pension plan. Under previous proposals, Disney wanted new hires only eligible for a 401(k) plan.

-- Guaranteed weekly hours will rise from 30 to 32.

-- The threshold for being a full-time worker will go from 25 to 30 hours a week.

Walt Disney World's last strike was by some musicians in the early 1980s.

The Service Trades Council and the company have been negotiating a contract since May. Union leaders have picketed outside a Disney store in New York and passed out leaflets at the Orlando International Airport to protest the company's offer on wages and health care and pension benefits.

Walt Disney World is part of The Walt Disney Co., the theme park and media conglomerate that also owns the ABC and ESPN cable television networks. On the New York Stock Exchange, Disney shares rose 68 cents, or 2.7 percent, to close Thursday at $26.32.