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Disneyland cast members, including performers who play characters like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Cinderella, have taken another step toward forming a union.
The employees are seeking to join the Actors’ Equity Association (Equity), which represents live theater performance workers, and the union announced Wednesday that it has petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to hold a union election.
A majority of Disneyland employees who play characters such as Mickey Mouse have signed a petition calling for a union election. (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Calling for unity, the cast called themselves “Magic United” and announced plans to unite in February. Since then, volunteer organizers have collected signed union recognition cards from colleagues, which were signed by the majority of Disneyland’s 1,700 eligible performers.
Employees are demanding better pay, benefits and improved working conditions.
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Equity reports that most of Disneyland’s 35,000 employees are already unionized, but the initiative is aimed at organizing cast members who work in the parade and character departments.
Minnie Mouse participates in a celebratory parade focused on the Walt Disney Company turning 100 years old at Disneyland in Anaheim, California on January 26, 2023. (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images/Getty Images)
The union, which represents about 51,000 professional actors and stage managers, noted that workers who perform the same jobs at Walt Disney World in Florida have been unionizing for decades.
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“The cast members who bring the characters and parades to life have been non-union since the Disneyland Resort opened in the 1950s and have watched other workers at the park form unions around them. ” said Kate Shindle, President of Equity. “Just eight weeks after Equity launched its campaign for a union recognition card, we received signatures from a super majority of those targeted.”
FOX Business has reached out to Disney for comment.
| ticker | safety | last | change | change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIS | walt disney company | 112.88 | -0.07 | -0.06% |
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FOX Business’ Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
