Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/987074
16 • THE ARTISAN SPRING 2018 pany's proposed new aendance policy. We found that by joining forces, working together, leafleting our members, hold- ing 'town hall' style meetings and rallies— and utilizing our strengths, we achieve our goals! To this day, the aendance policy remains 'as is'—and we have begun to focus our aention on other maers… In January, while Disney was in the pro- cess of buying the bulk of 21st Century Fox (price tag: $52.4 billion-with-a-B) and as the 14 percent Trump Corporate Tax windfall began to trickle in, on the heels of a $2.3 billion-with-a-B record profit for the last quarter of 2017, CEO Bob Iger announced that Walt Disney Corp. would be paying "a $1,000 bonus to all 125,000 Disney employees"—only this proved to not be quite true. Disney informed the unions negotiating the contract for 38,000 Walt Disney World employees—and two of our coalition's locals—that their mem- bers would not be receiving their bonuses "pending the outcome of negotiations." Seems these unions would first have to accept the unacceptable 40-cent contract offer on the table if they wanted to receive the promised bonuses; instead, several of these unions filed National Labor Relations Board charges against the company. Last year, our CRLU conducted the largest survey of Resort employees ever aempted: 50 questions answered by 5,000-plus union members, including all the gender, ethnic and socioeconomic diversity of these employees, yielding hard data (and 250,000 answers!) about their financial lives. The survey was conducted by Occidental College and the Economic Roundtable; they identified disturbing food, housing and transportation 'insecu- rities' of our members. 'Working for the Mouse—A Survey of Disneyland Resort Employees' was released on February 28. This alone was a milestone for labor. The New York Times published an article The issue of homelessness among Disney employees comes as officials in Orange County and the city of Anaheim are under fire for inhumane treatment of hundreds of people living in an encampment just a couple of miles from Disneyland, along the Santa Ana River. Seven hundred-plus homeless individuals were 'relocated' to motels for 30 days—then barred from returning to their camp. No permanent detailing the study, with photos and an in- depth interview with one of our own mem- bers—Rebekah Pedersen. Articles also appeared in the Los Angeles Times, The Orange County Register and OC Weekly— which profiled another of our members, Deserea Parrish. The survey found that 73 percent (and 90 percent of those with children) can't afford the basic expenses to live each month. Many Disney employ- ees must limit themselves to one meal each day. Many give up their food to feed their children. Eleven percent have been homeless within the past two years. All this, while the company is experiencing record profits and growth. In March alone, more than 70 magazine, newspaper and news articles were published, and some 80 television news agencies across the nation reported on the findings. "I love my job, and I take great pride in working at Disney. I'm a licensed professional whose position requires years of experience—yet my wages are so low, I often have to choose between food and a roof over my head. I recently lived in my car for 3½ months, and I'm currently homeless again. I'm also a Type 1 diabetic … so my healthcare situation has been overwhelming." — Local 706 member Rebekah Pedersen, The New York Times solution for the homeless was found; they just moved them out of sight... On February 28, the coalition hosted a 'Town Hall Meeting' at the Sheraton Park Hotel in Anaheim. All Disneyland employ- ees were invited to hear the results of the survey from one of its authors—Dr. Peter Dreier, and to ask questions. We hoped for 500 aendees. We saw some- where between 800-1,000 people pack the venue! Rebekah Pedersen was one of the two main speakers, and the event was covered by more than a dozen news, radio and TV agencies. As a response to the survey results, one of our coali- tion unions—UniteHere!—announced that it would be sponsoring an 'Anaheim Resort Living Wage' measure to ensure that any employer receiving Anaheim tax subsidies would be required to pay a 'living wage' ($15/hour), beginning January 1, 2019—rath- er than just the state's minimum wage. This announcement was met with a huge ova- tion from the audience. The coalition has supported the Anaheim measure fully. Our member-vol- unteers spent the last three weekends of April walking the precincts in Anaheim, gathering signatures and speaking to the voters, and as of May 1, we had the 22,000 signed petitions—far in excess of the num- ber necessary to place this measure on the November ballot! On March 8, two dozen of our coali- tion flew to Houston to aend the Disney Shareholders Meeting. We were joined by several dozen of our peers from the Florida unions and from locals in Houston. We protested outside, held up banners and handed out leaflets as hundreds came to hear CEO Bob Iger talk about Disney's record profits and plans for the future. An hour later, the stockholders came flooding out … it seems that Iger shut down the meeting early—without taking questions from the shareholders, but not before JOINING FORCES