18 responses so far ↓

• 1 » Disney: Not the Happiest Place on Earth - By ¡Para Justicia y Libertad! // Aug 13, 2008 at 8:31 pm

  [...] tip to blogamiga Adriana of Latino Politics Blog for the heads up on this issue. Disney Corporation’s winter quarter profits hit a record high [...]

• 2 theKaiser // Aug 13, 2008 at 8:33 pm

  Shareholder equity is the only thing Disney is interested in. That’s why unions exist, to protect the viable interests of the workers from being totally exploited. Equal pay for equal work.

• 3 HispanicPundit // Aug 13, 2008 at 9:52 pm

  This is not necessarily a bad thing. Yes, some people like Gloria Pena will be adversely affected but because labor is now cheaper and more flexible, more people can be employed – most of which will also be “housekeepers, bellmen, bartenders, dishwashers, and cooks who overwhelming are Latina/o”.

  In addition, forcing companies to pay for healthcare is a bad way to help the poor. Since healthcare is a cost like any other, it forces the employers to provide their employees a service instead of higher pay that many may not need – when what that employee could have more used was a higher wage.

  Richard Posner of the University Of Chicago explained it best when he wrote:

  “Since the labor cost that an employer incurs is the sum of the wage he pays and the cost of any fringe benefits, forcing the employer to incur a total labor cost of $12,000 for an employee worth to the employer only $10,000 will simply cause that employee to be fired, with little prospect of obtaining another job; so he will lose his health insurance and be thrown back on Medicaid. Suppose instead that the employer is willing to incur a total labor cost of $12,000 for this employee, but the latter prefers a cash wage in that amount and no insurance, and now suppose as before that the employer is forced to insure him. The employer will reduce the employee’s wage to $10,000, which may inflict significant hardship because the employee needs the cash more than he wants insurance (if he has no assets, he may well not need or want any health insurance). Notice the perverse redistributive effect: the average taxpayer, who is indeed made better off because the employee is now paying for his own health care, is wealthier than the average low-income employee”.

  Lastly, what Disneyland is doing to part time employees is no different than what all other companies do. If you work less than 30 hours per week, thats considered part time and you don’t get health insurance. As it should be…for the reasons mentioned above.

• 4 Michaelr // Aug 13, 2008 at 10:00 pm

  I’m all for boycotting Disney and all its corporate subsidiaries. That would mean not going to Disneyland, or staying in one of their hotels, which is easy since you need a million dollars to spend the day there anyway. Not buying Disney licensed products, which are all made in China by the way. Not watching Disney films at theaters, or renting or buying their DVDs. That means films by Touchstone, Miramax, and Buena Vista. Stop watching ABC News, and everything on Channel Seven in Los Angeles. That shouldn’t be very difficult at all, since everything on Network television is numbing and guaranteed to make you stupid. Thank goodness, Disney sold the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to Art Moreno. I would have a hard time preventing myself from giving money to the Art Moreno’s professional baseball team. So there you have it. It’s not so hard to bring a Corporate American giant to the bargaining table. Just stop giving them your money, especially since you have to buy gasoline with it anyway.

• 5 Bearguez // Aug 14, 2008 at 3:39 pm

  And then there’s our expert’s opinion (Hispanic Pundit) on what the brown and poor people need to do to reinforce the Free Market, and continue to keep Corporate America’s profits going through the roof, and keep labor costs low, or rather lower so we can spend all our earnings on gasoline and escalating food costs. I am sure he is going to recommend we all go to work for Wal-Mart, and he will find a quote, or create one from Milton Friedman, or Alan Greenspan which says that Wal-Mart is the greatest employer on the face of the earth, and Hillary Clinton will verify that. I am willing to bet Hispanic Pundit still lives at home with his Mommie, and doesn’t pay any bills outside of his school loans. And that’s why his world is so different than ours.

• 6 DoctorH // Aug 14, 2008 at 3:53 pm

  Self-loathing would be a more accurate affliction, the same disease that inhibits Alberto Gonzales’ mentality. How you can rationalize corporate greed at the expense of your lower level employees represents an acute internal loathing for those lower level employees? Or maybe he just hates poor brown people. Either Hispanic Pundit can’t do simply arithmetic, or he hasn’t spent the day at Disneyland paying for things out of his own pocket. The fact that he uses quotes from various economists to rationalize his beliefs displays how insensitive he is towards workers at that level. I will stop there.

• 7 Zeke Hernandez // Aug 14, 2008 at 4:24 pm

  The last few weeks, the Latino community in Orange County (CA) has been strongly supporting the cause of Disney employees (HERE-UNITE).

  It has been quite challenging for hotel workers at Disneyland’s three hotels – Disneyland
  Hotel, Paradise Pier and the Grand Californian.
  Workers are still working without a contract and
  management has been unwilling to negotiate a fair contract that includes a living wage, employer base family health insurance + respect and dignity at the workplace.

  This fight is not just about a better wage, it’s about Disneyland Hotel’s wanting to force their will upon employees and the residents of Orange County. This is why it’s so critical that we stand hand in hand with these workers and fight for what is right.

  Santa Ana LULAC #147 and Orange County LULAC District #1 have adopted a resolution to support the workers at their recent District Convention.

  LULAC
  League of United Latin American Citizens

• 8 BettyM // Aug 14, 2008 at 4:26 pm

  I am in agreement with Michaelr – boycott Disney and support those employees whose unions support the basics – health care is essential. For those fortunate enough to have the $$ to visit Disneyland find other entertainment venues and let Disney know why you are not going there. Check your local paper and find wonderful events to attend. There’s a Pet Fair in Huntington Beach on Aug. 17. The Festival of the Arts in Laguna Beach is great. We don’t have to go to Disneyland!

• 9 jammer // Aug 14, 2008 at 4:39 pm

  I find it funny that once the founding person , who has all kinds of idealistic goals(Disney, make everyone happy, Sam Walton affordable products for the masses and helping the community) dies, corporate greedy types take over and they screw the people and ideals. The mantra becomes make money at all costs. I haven’t been to any of the Disney parks, hotels nor seen their movies in years . Nor can you get me to shop at a Walmart And do you know what? Life has been good. Who needs them? We should all boycott them.

• 10 Sheila // Aug 14, 2008 at 5:10 pm

  The only thing I can say to this is … unbelievable.

• 11 I'm Not The Only One // Aug 14, 2008 at 5:31 pm

  Hispanic Pundit has the right idea. Unlike the federal government who can run trillions of dollars in debt, corporations do not have that luxury. If they incur enough debt, their employees will not have to worry about health benefits and salary because the company will file for bankruptcy and they will be unemployed.

  Disney’s hotels, theme parks and stores require a certain number of employees to keep it operating at a level that will keep customers satisfied. Paying more money to give the same benefits to part-time employees as full-time employees means less money to hire more employees or worse, keep some employees on the payroll.

  Government doesn’t really have to worry about debt, which is why part-time employees (whose paychecks are obviously smaller than those of their full-time colleagues) should be able to turn to the government for health insurance. Unfortunately, some members of the working poor, for reasons only known to Congress, are not deemed poor enough to qualify for Medicaid or Medicare.

  State-sponsored universal health care for those who cannot afford a private insurer is not a perfect solution for millions of uninsured Americans, but it’s a better and more realistic solution than using the law to force private companies to provide health benefits to its employees.

  Besides, if the union cares so damn much about its low-wage workers, perhaps they shouldn’t make them pay union dues. If the unions don’t know where in their budget to cut expenses to allow low-wage workers free union membership, perhaps they should look at the six-figure salaries of their highest ranking officers. Most union bosses are paid very well, growing fat off the union dues of the working poor. That’s worse than any allegation of “corporate greed” that I could ever think of.

  Go ahead, boycott Disney. Warner Bros. is funnier anyway and Six Flags theme parks are way better than Disney World.

• 12 HispanicPundit // Aug 14, 2008 at 6:08 pm

  Okay…now that we’ve settled that I live at home with my mommie, pay only student loans, self-loathe, hates poor brown people and can’t do basic arithmetic…how about addressing my points?

  Just to summarize:

  I claimed that forcing Disneyland to pay more for its employees could result in less people working, all of which will be worse off than those that merely lost their job.

  I also claimed that forcing employers to provide healthcare is a bad way to help the poor. It forces those that don’t need health insurance (say, the young) to take a pay cut when in many cases extra pay would have helped them better.

  And I also made the claim that what Disneyland is doing is really no different than what other companies already do – if you work part time, you don’t get health insurance. Period.

  Let me add one final claim. I believe, strongly believe, that an economy where GM and Ford are the models is an economy that leaves us all poorer. Short term gains for long term loses. Detroit, the workers in the area, and the economy as a whole suffers because unions don’t know where to stop.

  Now, what part of this do you disagree with? Because even a non-arithmetic, living at home ignoramus like myself could understand it.

• 13 HispanicPundit // Aug 14, 2008 at 6:15 pm

  Typo: I meant to say,

  “I claimed that forcing Disneyland to pay more for its employees could result in less people working, all of which will be worse off than those that merely lost their HEALTHCARE.”

• 14 Michaelr // Aug 14, 2008 at 7:35 pm

  You’re assuming Disney, along with Wal-Mart, Tyson Foods, Monsanto, and most Corporate American companies pay livable wages to their low level employees. Since the early 1980s the vast majority of American corporations had ceased following those wage guidelines with help from the Federal government at the time. U.S. Federal Minimum Wage is not a livable wage. A person working full time earning Minimum Wage cannot pay the average rent on a one bedroom apartment in the United States. Multi-national corporations, especially Western European and Japanese corporations experience fewer turnovers of lower level employees because they pay livable wages at the bottom end of their pay scales. This is why the EU and the Japanese companies have been producing superior products worldwide for the last thirty years. They pay their lower level employees a livable wage and their CEOs rarely have salaries above one million dollars a year. The average CEO of an American public company earns 9.7 million dollars a year, plus perks worth an average of 5.4 million dollars per year. That’s American excess taken to extremes. And you wonder why Toyota, American Honda, Nissan, BMW, Mercedes-Benz rule the roast and will continue in that direction until American corporations learn to run lean at the top.

• 15 HispanicPundit // Aug 14, 2008 at 10:30 pm

  Multi-national corporations, especially Western European and Japanese corporations experience fewer turnovers of lower level employees because they pay livable wages at the bottom end of their pay scales.

  On the contrary, a “livable wage”, or really anything that makes labor more expensive, results in less labor being utilized. And who do you think that hurts? If you guessed the poor, uneducated, and minority, you guessed right!

  The livable wage, the minimum wage, and generally higher labor regulations in Europe is precisely why their unemployment rate is significantly higher than it is the United States, see here and here.

  This is why it is usually rich white liberals that favor European economics over US economics…after all, its precisely them that benefit, while the poor, the uneducated, and especially the discriminated against bares the brunt of its down fall.

• 16 Wendy Carrillo // Aug 15, 2008 at 2:09 am

  Labor issues are often very difficult to understand. On one hand, of course, I stand for equal pay and living wages, unions are for the most part, a decent middle man to take care of those issues. But our poor economic state, HMO accountability (or lack thereof), globalization and bad U.S working conditions dont help the situation. I wonder how much investment the Disney corporation has made in new theme parks and how their return has been. For the most part, Disney has been good at paying their employees, at least those that dont work in hotels… I saw a news bit today about how the Union has had 14 demonstrations, yet has only shown up to 11 of the meetings w/ Disney. The news however, did not say how many meetings there were in total, it could have been 12, it could have been 20. I saw that people dressed up as Snow White, Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters were arrested. I’m sure jail is going to be load of laughs. not.
  I have to say, though, all the arguments above are pretty legitamate, and at least having a converstation, even if by means of this blog, is pretty amazing… and the insults make it spicy to read. I hope the union is able to work out a deal for its employees that is rational and sustainable, and i hope Disney meets their demands with accountability. Sidebar: I just went to Disneyland last week… it was hot and sticky, the Idiana Jones ride broke down literally right before i got on the ride after waiting 1 hour. It was the I need Prozac to be in my happy place on earth.
  tragic.

• 17 Cousin // Aug 16, 2008 at 8:45 pm

  i think its ridiculous that people are being denied decent health insurance, i mean its bad enough that all we have in this country is sick care as opposed to health care but without insurance a middle class family could go broke simply paying for doctor visits, shots, medicine, and then g-d forbid a trip the hospital this is simply outrageous!

• 18 The Corporate Partner Conundrum // Feb 16, 2010 at 11:07 pm

  [...] labor history in regards to its hotel workers, which this blog has covered before back in the Summer of 2008), then there would be some sort of outrage about who exactly these associations serve. I have met [...]

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