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Union members vote overwhelmingly to reject Disney contract offer

By Ken Tyndall
By Ken Tyndall

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — After months of going back and forth at the bargaining table, Disney and unions representing 38,000 employees will have to start over from scratch.

Members of the unions voted overwhelmingly to reject Disney's current contract offer, which would have given employees a 6 to 10 percent raise over two years, an immediate 50-cent hourly wage increase and a $200 ratification payment.

Currently, new Disney employees earn $10 an hour, but the union wants to raise average worker pay to $15 an hour.
In a statement, Disney agreed that employees deserve a raise, which it has offered.
What the company has put on the table, though, doesn't cut it, union member Mike Beaver said. 
Beaver has worked for Disney for the past 17 years, but for more than two years he's had to live in a hotel because it's the best he can afford.
"People are struggling," he said. "Fifty cents is not enough. We need to go back to the table."
Union member Curtis Gaskin said employees' efforts were not an attack on Disney as a company.
"We're not here to bash the company, or anything like that," he said. "We just want a decent wage."
 

Cox Media Group

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