Workers at the Disneyland theme park in California agreed to a strike in a union-wide vote on Friday, creating the opportunity to refuse to work at the “happiest place on earth,” the theme park’s unions said.
The unions representing about 14,000 Disneyland Resort employees have been negotiating with Disney since April over wage increases and other benefits.
Talks have stalled and tensions have increased as some workers accuse Disney of anti-union practices.
99 percent of members voted in favor of authorizing the strike, according to a union statement.
This allows union leaders to decide on the timing, duration and conditions of the strike.
Disney said this week that the company was “determined” to continue negotiations scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.
If talks go ahead as planned, the strike authorization vote will give union members new bargaining leverage.
“A strike is always a last resort for workers, but this clear result shows that employees across the Disneyland area are ready and willing to do whatever it takes to fight back against Disney’s unfair labor practices and get the contract they deserve,” said the statement from the bargaining committee, Disney Workers Rising.
“Today’s overwhelming majority vote to authorize a strike against unfair labor practices sends a clear message to the company: ‘Together we are stronger and we will not be divided by fearmongering.'”
After the writers’ and actors’ strike paralyzed Hollywood last year, another major union movement at Disney would be historic.
According to the Los Angeles Times, there has not been a strike among employees at California theme parks since 1984.
On Wednesday, hundreds of Disneyland employees, also known as cast members, gathered for a protest in a parking lot outside the park in Anaheim, a suburb of Los Angeles.
The workers complained about low wages and intimidation by their superiors and filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.
According to the union, more than 500 workers have been reprimanded, threatened or given disciplinary warnings for wearing a union button depicting a Mickey Mouse glove in the shape of a fist.
“Last week I saw a manager tell one of the cast members to take off her name tag,” Disneyland employee Ginny Cristales, 44, told AFP by phone. “He told her it would be on her file card… She was stressed and scared.”
Cristales has worked at Disneyland for the past five years, earning about $2,800 a month — not enough to cover rent for her and her four children.
“We deserve fair wages,” Cristales said. “A strike is our last resort and we don’t want to use it. But if Disney doesn’t give in and give us what we need, then we’re ready.”
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