CYNTHIA Carranza meticulously scavenged for a shady parking spot in the car she called home. The overnight custodian at Disneyland had to sleep during the day – a difficulty for anyone, let alone when you’re living in your car with two dogs.
Carranza says she makes $20.65 an hour (about £15.99) at the park but last summer, she couldn’t afford rent in this Southern California city where the average apartment can run more than $2,000 (about £1,550) a month.
Struggles of summer
Carranza teared up as she recounted the struggles of that summer, including sneaking for showers in Disneyland’s costume department. She now shares a small apartment with her boyfriend, who also works at the park, but still makes barely enough to make ends meet.
“That’s not something that anybody should experience working a full-time job for a company like Disney,” she said.
Carranza, like others who work at the park, detailed to the BBC the financial hardships that come with working at what’s supposed to be the “Happiest Place on Earth”. About 10,000 union workers at Disneyland – the first of 12 parks created around the globe – are threatening to strike over the wages and what they say are retaliatory anti-union practices. Hundreds of workers protested outside the park this week, with an array of signs and pins showing Mickey Mouse’s gloved fist in defiance. “Mickey would want fair pay,” workers chanted outside Disneyland near the park’s gates.
They voted almost unanimously to authorise strike action , just days before union contract negotiations for workers are set to resume.
Talks with management
While the vote does not mean a strike is imminent, it could set workers up to act quickly if negotiations sour. Authorisation also gives the unions leverage as talks with Disney management continue again next week.
