The union representing thousands of Disney World Cast Members announced a big win for full-time and part-time Cast Members at the Central Florida parks during a press conference on Thursday afternoon.
Just after 5:00 p.m. local time, during an “abruptly scheduled” press conference on Thursday afternoon at the Wyndham Orlando Resort and Conference Center, following negotiations that took place between unions and Disney World. The press conference opened with the announcement negotiations have been taking place for 210 days and that it’s been 535 days since Disney workers last received pay increases, but that a “huge development” had taken place during Thursday morning’s negotiations.
During rounds of failed negotiations, the top priorities among Disney workers have been to receive a minimum wage of $18 per hour and to be guaranteed full retroactive pay back to October 2022, when the previous contract expired. But so far, Disney has only offered a minimum wage of $17 per hour and only partial retroactive pay.
During negotiations on Thursday morning, however, Disney World and Cast Member unions finally came to an agreement–with Disney agreeing to the unions’ demands and agreeing to an $18 per hour minimum wage and full retroactive pay all the way back to the expiration of the previous contract.
The press conference was broadcast via Facebook Live, during which Cast Members commented on the social media platform. Though Disney has agreed to contract terms put forth by union leaders, some Cast Members were still unhappy with the outcome. Many, however, were thankful for the agreement and praised the work of union leaders and Cast Members in keeping a united front about what they demanded from the new contract.
