[Tom Morrow]

Hotel workers protest at Disneyland Resort

Workers dress like 'toons to protest Disney Unite Here Local 681 wants pay increase for hotel workers at resort Orange County Register Members of the union representing 2,300 workers at at the Disneyland Hotel, Grand Californian and Paradise Pier hotels dressed as cartoon characters and protested at the park Tuesday morning. The pickets are part of an ongoing effort by the union to influence contract talks that are underway between the union, Unite Here Local 681, and Disney management. Unite Here 681 President Ada Briceño complained that Disney’s proposals have included a two-tiered wage system under which new union workers would not make the same wages as veteran union workers in the same positions. Briceño said contracts proposed by Disney included provisions that would raise employee contributions to health insurance to $100 or more a month, and that some part-time workers would be ineligible for benefits. She said a strike vote was not out of the question."We’re hoping not to go there, but we need to do whatever it takes," she said. The talks have been rocky from the start. Unite Here workers have been working without a contract since the end of January and at first refused to even meet with Disney, though the company set up negotiating venues at resort-area hotels. Both sides started negotiations with a federal mediator this spring. Disney spokeswoman Lisa Haines said Disneyland management has good relations with the other 23 unions organizing workers at the Anaheimpark. Haines said two contracts negotiated with other park workers’ unions in recent months took only two weeks of bargaining. by Andrew Townsend complete article

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