- author, Regan Morris
- role, BBC News reports from Anaheim, California
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Cynthia “Cyn” Carranza carefully searched for a shady parking space for the car she calls home.
Disneyland’s night caretaker has to sleep during the day, which is tough for anyone, but even more so when you’re living in your car with your two dogs. Carranza earns $20.65 (around £15.99) an hour at the park but says he couldn’t afford rent last summer in this Southern California city where the average apartment costs more than $2,000 (around £1,550) a month.
Carranza cried as she described the struggles of that summer, including sneaking showers in the costume department at Disneyland. She now shares a small apartment with her boyfriend, who also works at Disneyland, but is barely making ends meet.
“This is not something someone working full time for a company like Disney should have to go through,” she told the BBC.
Carranza, like others who work at the theme park, detailed to the BBC the financial hardships that come with working at what is supposed to be “the happiest place on Earth.” Around 10,000 union workers at Disneyland, the first of 12 theme parks built around the world, are threatening to strike over wages and what they say are anti-union practices that are retaliatory.
Hundreds of workers protested outside the park this week, holding a variety of signs and pin badges depicting Mickey Mouse’s gloved fist.
“Mickey wants his fair share of wages,” workers chanted near the entrance to Disneyland.
The union almost unanimously authorized the strike on Friday, just days before workers were set to resume collective bargaining agreement negotiations.
The vote does not mean a strike is imminent, but it could set workers up to act quickly if talks break down. The recognition also gives the union leverage as negotiations with Disney management continue into next week.
Image source, Getty Images
Disneyland’s cast member contract expires June 16, and the current negotiations involve a coalition of unions representing about 10,000 employees at the park, from those who work as characters and operate rides to sales, restaurant and cleaning staff.
Union officials say one in 10 Disneyland cast members have experienced homelessness while working at the park: In a survey of employees, 73% said they don’t make enough money to cover basic living expenses each month, and about a third said they’d experienced housing insecurity within the past year.
“We’re the ones who create the magic,” says L. Slaughter, a host at the park’s Toontown-themed area. “We want Disney to pay us a living wage.”
Slaughter lived in her car for two years while working at Disneyland, and now lives in a small apartment about an hour’s drive from the park.
She said she spent a lot of time trying to find a safe parking spot to sleep, adding that staff are not allowed to sleep in Disneyland parking lots.
“My rent went up by $200 and I can’t afford it anymore,” she said.
Slaughter makes $19.90 an hour, thanks to a minimum wage law passed by city voters in 2018. Disney unsuccessfully resisted a pay increase, but workers say it still isn’t enough to survive in Southern California.
According to a living wage calculator created by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a single person without children would need to earn $30.48 an hour to live near Disneyland in Orange County, about 30 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
Workers who spoke to the BBC said their love for the Disney brand has kept them working at the parks, and they rely on generous health benefits and union-run food banks, which some described as a saving grace.
Disney has said it is committed to negotiating with “cast members,” the company’s term for employees who play princesses and pirates, as well as the chefs and cleaners who maintain the parks.
“We respect and value our Cast Members and recognize the important role they play in bringing happiness to our guests,” Disney said in a statement, adding that talks with the union representing the employees would resume on July 22 and the company was committed to reaching an agreement that “focuses on what matters most to our current Cast Members, attracts new Cast Members and lays the foundation for growth and job creation at Disneyland Resort.”
The last strike at Disneyland occurred in 1984 and lasted 22 days.
Carranza described the backbreaking work he does every night at the park, cleaning, polishing, repairing floors and sometimes laying carpet.
She says living in her car last summer was the worst period of her life, and she’s grateful that her dogs kept her alive.
“I know they’re the reason I’m still here, they’re the reason I didn’t give up,” she said. “There were times when I questioned what I was doing here and how I was going to recover.”
But even in the tiny studio apartment where Carranza now lives, she continues to live paycheck to paycheck, sometimes eating only rice or noodles.
While the workers’ demands are economic, the strike vote came in response to complaints that workers had been disciplined for wearing Mickey badges and distributing union information in the park.
In June, the union filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against Disney, accusing the company of “unlawful discipline, intimidation and surveillance of union members exercising their right to wear the union flag at work.”
Colleen Palmer, one of the negotiators for Local UFCW 324, has worked at Disneyland for nearly 37 years and makes nearly $24 an hour as a “merchandise worker.” She said she had been wearing her union badge for less than 30 minutes when management asked her to remove it.
Palmer says employees are responsible for the experience customers enjoy at Disneyland, and they should be rewarded for their loyalty and experience. She said employees believe the pay disparity between employees and company executives is outrageous. Disney CEO Bob Iger’s compensation is $31.6 million in 2023, hundreds of times what a Disneyland cast member makes.
“The thing that makes me wonder is, why don’t you acknowledge me? Because I’m the one who made you that money so you can now buy that sports team,” she said, referring to the news that Iger and his wife had bought the Los Angeles women’s soccer team, Angel City Football Club.
The disparity between worker pay and management is fueling labor unrest in the U.S. CEO pay rose 1,460% between 1978 and 2021, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
Disneyland is a unique place to work: many see it as a career rather than a job, and employees are often such fans of the Disney brand that some would call them Disney cults.
Employees receive perks like free admission to Disney parks for family and friends, but they also say Disney is inflexible during family crises or illnesses, and many employees have second or third jobs that Disneyland’s unpredictable schedule makes juggling difficult.
It may be a dream job for a part-time student or retiree, but for residents of Anaheim and its suburbs, where Disney is its largest employer, workers say it no longer provides a livable wage.
“Without us, Disney would be just like any other place,” said Morgan, who lived with her children in motels around Disneyland for four years and asked to be known only by her middle name.
Morgan was homeless after her marriage broke up and could only afford cheap motels on her Disney salary, so when her children were with their mother, they often slept outside or in the shadows to avoid police and thieves.
He now has a full-time second job as a recruiter that allows him to work from home, and with that income he has an apartment to live in.
Still, he takes pride in his job selling Disney merchandise, and says all cast members take their jobs seriously.
“The problem isn’t the animatronics, it’s us. At least respect us enough to pay us a decent wage.”
