Disneyland employees in California approved the principle of a strike on Friday, unions at the famous theme park announced.
These organizations have been waging a standoff with Disney since April to increase the salaries of the 14,000 employees of this dream factory. Tense talks, punctuated by accusations of anti-union practices on the part of the group.
According to the unions’ statement, 99% of employees voted in favour of a strike.
“Disney has resorted to illegal tactics instead of treating the (salary) negotiation process with the respect and seriousness it deserves,” they said. “Today’s massive vote […] sends a clear message to the company: we are stronger together and we will not be divided by bullying tactics.”
Allowed to strike, unions can now launch a movement whenever they want.
But the strike remains “a last resort,” they said, stressing that they will participate in a new round of negotiations next Monday and Tuesday.
After the strike by actors and writers that paralyzed Hollywood last year, a large-scale social movement at Disney would be historic. Workers at its California theme park have not gone on strike since 1984, according to the Los Angeles Times.
On Wednesday, several hundred candy vendors, cleaners and other actors, sometimes dressed as Indiana Jones or Star Wars, demonstrated near the park in Anaheim, a suburb of Los Angeles.
They complain of low wages and intimidation, which has prompted an investigation by the US labor regulator, the NLRB.
The unions say more than 500 employees have been reprimanded, monitored and threatened with discipline for wearing a union pin that features a Mickey Mouse glove raised in the shape of a fist.
Among the protesters, Ginny Cristales testified to these practices.
“Last week, I saw a manager telling one of the hostesses to remove the badge, and he told her it would be on her record,” the employee at a park store told AFP. “She was stressed and scared.”
At 44, five of which she has spent working for the park, she says she earns about $2,800 a month. That doesn’t cover the mother of four’s rent, which is $3,200 a month.
“We deserve fair wages,” she insisted.
The park management responded on Friday by saying it was “impatient to continue the negotiations” scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.
For the moment, “no strike has been scheduled and Disneyland Resort continues to welcome its visitors,” she stressed.