Disney World and its unions make a deal

June 8, 2007 at 8:06 AM · I couldn't be happier...my wife and I just came back from Disney and some of you might have read my "magic fading???" post and know why I am happy about this. I feel as if all the cast members deserve better than what they had going for them. Florida's union by-laws are much different than other states and this win is a huge victory for the tourism unions (since they are mostly david vs goliath). I was in a long discussion with one of the disney bus drivers when I was there and we talked about the things that they were being denied. It was sorrowful to think that although all Disney buses are air-conditioned, most of the driver area vents don't work on all the buses built before 2000 (which are most of them); being denied cost of living increases, no guarantees on hours worked and reductions on weekly hours to the point that almost the entire staff of all workers at the DisneyWorld Resort were part-time, bare minimum time-off as a result of less hours worked, etc. I am curious to know what was agreed to behind closed doors in order to get this passed. It has been too long since they had a contract and contracts don't get signed without some type of concession on the side of the union.

June 8, 2007 at 8:56 PM · Good to know there will be happy cast members if/when I go. ...For the next three years, at least.

June 9, 2007 at 2:54 AM · Hopefully this will give the employees more reason to smile.