Posted on 12/05/2019 6:35:48 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
You’re not supposed to see them like this, their polyester prince costumes unbuttoned and backpacks hanging from the shoulders of their colonial period dresses.
Flip flops on, lunch boxes in hand, legions of workers stream into an employee parking lot at Walt Disney World, weary from another shift of making magic at the world’s busiest theme park.
This is the place where the pixie dust loses its sparkle.
It’s where the low-wage workers who power Orlando’s tourism machine leave the attractions, hotels and eateries and fade into a community that doesn’t have enough affordable housing, public transportation or opportunities in industries with higher-paying jobs.
A year after a landmark decision by Disney to raise its minimum wage for about 40,000 union workers to $15 an hour by 2021, many of those employees are better off. By October, the number of unionized workers earning more than $15 an hour had more than quadrupled to 13,057 compared to August 2018, according to the Service Trades Council Union.
But people earning near the $15 mark, long considered the gold standard for a living wage, still find their paychecks barely cover the basics — so they move farther from the attractions to find lower rent and make difficult decisions each month about whether they can pay overdue medical bills or buy enough groceries to feed a family.
They’re people like Gabby Alcantara-Anderson.
(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
I didn’t realize Disney World had a blimp ride.
Just looked— she should be thankful to have a job, and a car and a phone....
Did you see her pic
She could get a job at Sea World without breaking a sweat...
She probably can’t swim. Now let’s not be mean. :)
I believe the correct term at Disney World is "cast members". See, Don't you feel better? Now, Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work you go...
She may not be able to swim, but she'd have to strap a 50 pound weight belt on to get below the surface.
If only they would double her salary, subsidize her housing, charge $30 for a hamburger, and triple prices everything would be ok.
I did a summer in an amusement park. At 18 it was fun. At 21 it would have started becoming tedious. If I had to do it past that point, I would be in a car down by the river drinking.
Liberal in outlook and reliant on tourism industry advertising, the Orlando Sentinel has long been a supporter of massive, low skill immigration for the sake of cheap labor for tourism. Now they whine about the resulting low wages.
for $15/hr you could buy a nice camper to live in
She’s earning enough to buy plenty of food.
Ok. Thirty years ago, I worked for Disney.
To set the record straight. Workers don’t leave the building in their costumes. They show for work. Get dressed, do their work. Take off the costume and put on their own clothes and go home. Disney property doesn’t leave Disney property.
Snow White and Mickey Mouse sleeping in their cars would never be seen. Period!
On the bad side, if you are in the public’s eye, you are an entertainer, even if you wait tables. That means you audition for that job every 6 months. This gives Disney the chance to not hire you.
They like college age looking employees. If you get too old, or heavy or too tattooed, you are night rehired. ‘But feel free to try again in 6 months!
Their old CEO, Eisner, wrote the book on dumping employees to cut back on paying retirement and benefits.
My son runs a shipping department and tells me about Indian visa truck drivers. The only way they can bank money is to run the truck 24 hours a day which requires three drivers living in the cab.
Son says the stench that hits you when they open the cab door will burn your nose hair.
Oof. That sounds bad.
No, they do not.
Workers at $15 an hour in the United States are rich by the standards of most of the world.
They have a car, free education for children, running water, air-conditioned spaces to live in that are free of rats and mosquitoes.
They have plenty to eat, and have considerable leisure time.
You want "starvation wages" go to Maoist China during the Great Leap Forward.
Friend’s daughter worked for Disney. Did things like buy decor for restaurants. Traveled the world. Helped put things in Japan Disneyworld. But every six months they’d decide if they wanted to keep her. Just when she was making decent money they let her go. She didn’t do anything wrong, but at some point they could hire someone younger to do her job for less.
I worked at a theme park...THE Six Flags Over Texas...back in high school.
It was a job for kids then. Careers were in the office if one chose to go that direction.
One of my kids earns about $15 an hour, pays for school and her own apartment in a place with a far higher cost of living than Orlando.
She has no debt either.
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