Disturbing news from one of the world's top roller coaster parks. A local newspaper is reporting that Cedar Point will be cutting pay for some of its park employees this summer.
A report in the Sandusky Register details the cuts. Cedar Point is rescinding a $5 an hour "legacy pay" increase that it first offered in 2020, when the park struggled to find workers during the pandemic. The park stopped offering that $20-an-hour starting wage to employees hired in later seasons, but those who worked in 2020 kept their higher pay rate.
But not any longer. The Register reports that Cedar Point employees who return for the 2025 season will be paid only their base pay rate, without the legacy pay bump.
Experience helps theme park employees run attractions closer to their theoretical capacity, keeping wait times down throughout a park. It takes time running an attraction to learn to notice the little things that led to downtimes. Experienced operators also are better at screening guests and loading attractions, which helps keep people safe and lines moving swiftly. When a park does not pay enough to entice seasonal workers to return, it must start all over with new employees who will need months to develop the experience that their predecessors took with them. It's too early to tell if Cedar Point's pay changes will affect the percentage of associates who return for 2025 versus last year.
The Register also reports that Cedar Point's practice of hiring immigrant workers on J-1 Visas. The park does not need to pay payroll taxes on immigrants that it hires, saving the company money. Workers on J-1 Visas are also tied to the company that sponsors them, which keeps local wages down as employees cannot job-hop. J-1 Visas are used by many theme parks and seasonal attractions around the nation that need to hire thousands of employees each year.
The paper also notes that Cedar Point's seasonal employees are not eligible for overtime pay, further saving the company at the expense of employees. When I worked at Disney, we got overtime not just for any hours over 40 worked during the week, but also for all hours worked over eight in one day. In addition, all hours worked on a sixth or seventh day during a payroll week were paid at overtime rate. OT was how a Walt Disney World job became a livable wage for many of my co-workers. I cannot imagine working the long hours of a summer job without it. We would love to hear from current or past Cedar Point employees about this.
Cedar Point is looking to open two new coasters this season - the Vekoma tilt coaster Siren's Curse, as well as Top Thrill 2, the Zamperla redesign of the former Top Thrill Dragster that closed just days after its press preview last spring. Cedar Point opens for its 2025 season on Saturday, May 3.
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It is past time for CP to demo that employee dorm complex at the front of the causeway, its such an eyesore and most people go by it when driving into the park.
Did you se how much they charge employees for the privilege of staying in that horrific dorm??? Crazy!
Grim, grim stuff.
Working as a seasonal employee at a theme park is a tough gig. While I understand not offering the bonus to later hires, rescinding it pretty much guarantees all those affected will seek other employment first. While this seems to be a park level decision, I'm sure corporate pushed for it, making it the latest in the string of questionable decisions made by the new Six Flags (but, since most of that board is former Cedar Fair, it may have happened even without the merger).
"More evidence of the Six Flags-ification of the merged chain. SF management was ALWAYS been about cutting costs"...
I'm not sure what this is supposed to mean. Cedar Fair management is running the show and there are very few people from the Six Flags side in corporate leadership roles.
I hope they all go on strike. Let the executives do a days work for a change.
Former Cedar Fair folks may still be in positions of power and influence, but when you look at all of the decisions from the merged chain over the past 4-6 months, they're far more in line with what Six Flags had done in the past than what Cedar Fair did prior to the merger. Just because Cedar Fair folks are in charge of operations doesn't necessarily mean that they are truly "in charge", because as we all know in business, money talks, and if Six Flags folks are running the financial side of the house, it's very possible that they have an oversized influence on the entire operation. It's also very possible that the Cedar Fair folks running the show always wanted to run the chain in this way, but cooler heads always prevailed and the willingness and desire to make decisions that cut against what Six Flags was doing guided their decision making. Now with no competition, the combined chain can operate in this ruthless manner that is far more reminiscent of how the old Six Flags operated than how many of the same executives were running Cedar Fair before the merger.
I seriously doubt many people will be affected by this, if any at all. CP's hourly employees are almost entirely college age and international workers on temporary visas. It's been 5 years.
@the_man7 - I would tend to agree, but it's the optics of this move more than anything else. People never want to see employees get a pay cut, especially when tickets and other costs associated with visiting a theme park continue to increase and the quality of the experience is decreasing.
right, every year these employees come back without a raise they are effectively getting a pay cut (especially the past five years!) and if a relatively small number of employees are still getting the increased pay... why cut it? why risk the bad publicity over 100 seasonal employees getting a better rate?
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More evidence of the Six Flags-ification of the merged chain. SF management was ALWAYS been about cutting costs while trying to raise revenue with the least amount of investment possible. It's good to know that the bean-counters are in charge of virtually every aspect of the combined company now known as Six Flags, and not experienced theme park managers that used to be responsible for the staffing and operation of America's Roller Coast.