Disney workers, along with union employees, protest for high wages at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Thursday, June 14, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Disney workers, along with union employees, enter Disneyland as they protest for high wages at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Thursday, June 14, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Disney workers, along with union employees, protest for high wages at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Thursday, June 14, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Stu Wylim, right, a night custodian at Disney California Adventure Park, joins fellow Disney workers, along with union employees, as they protest for high wages at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Thursday, June 14, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A union worker carries anti-Disney balloons during a protest by Disney workers for high wages at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Thursday, June 14, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Disney workers, along with union employees, cross Harbor Boulevard walking towards Disneyland as they protest for high wages at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Thursday, June 14, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Disney workers, along with union employees, cross Harbor Boulevard walking towards Disneyland as they protest for high wages at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Thursday, June 14, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Alexandro Gonzalez, a janitor at the Disneyland Resort, protests for high wages at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Thursday, June 14, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Disney workers, along with union employees, enter Disneyland as they protest for high wages at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Thursday, June 14, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Lori Heybruch a day custodian at Disney California Adventure Park, joins fellow Disney workers, along with union employees, as they protest for high wages at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Thursday, June 14, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Disney workers, along with union employees, protest for high wages at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Thursday, June 14, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Disney workers, along with union employees, enter Disneyland as they protest for high wages at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Thursday, June 14, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Disney workers, along with union employees, protest for high wages at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA, on Thursday, June 14, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Can the Magic Kingdom spread its fairy dust on Americas meager wage hikes?
Disneyland and key unions just agreed to an eye-catching contract for roughly a third of its 30,000-plus workers that will bump pay for the lowest-paid workers by as much as one-third — yes, 30-percent-plus — to $15-an-hour by January. Thats three years before the states escalating minimum wage hits that mark.
Organized labors high-pressure public relations battle with the theme park operator — no less, the realities of an ultra-tight labor market — convinced Walt Disney Co. to make a bold statement against whats seemingly been long-running, conventional boardroom thinking: significant pay raises for the worker bee are history.
The added significance of this stunning pay hike in an economic era featuring remarkable corporate penny-pinching is that this involves a closely-watched corporate icon that has been a managerial trendsetter.
Workers everywhere — from other unions to individual employees to other Disney employees — should feel empowered to nudge bosses on pay. And if the request is denied, those workers may find a better-paying job elsewhere.
Note how odd the job market has become: In the first half on 2018, nationwide wages for workers who had switched jobs were up 3.98 percent in 12 months, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Pay for those who didnt change bosses rose just 2.65 percent. Its been 18 years since this gap — 1.33 percentage points — was wider.
Lets assume major employers understand their diminished wage-setting power as we look to five potential job-market winners beyond Disneyland.
1. Everybody on the job[hhmc]
Wages have stayed stubbornly stagnant in the post-dot-com-post-Great-Recession job market.
Ponder that the U.S. median household incomes beat inflation by an average by 1.1 percent annually from 1984 through 2000. Since then, that gaps narrowed to just 0.1 percent a year. In California, a pre-2000 incomes edge over inflation ran 0.8 percent a year. In the next 16 years, the gap thinned to 0.1 percent
In the early years of this latest economic recovery, small raises made sense — those who were employed were happy to simply be employed, and the unemployed provided bosses ample supply of eager workers. Its taken a decade for various measures of pay to regain their pre-recession peaks.
In recent months, labor markets have gotten so tight — with record job openings nationwide and so-called job quits back in fashion — that pay levels are slowly creeping higher.
Disneylands pay hikes could help raise the bar even higher.
2. Unions[hhmc]
The typical American workers ability to keep their pay ahead of inflation has been deeply challenged as the nations labor movement has lost its clout.
Union memberships share of workers at private-sector employers nationwide has fallen to 6.5 percent last year from 16.5 percent in 1983. In California, the slide has tumbled to 8.3 percent from 17.7 percent.
It didnt help organized labor that union-heavy industries faltered while corporate bosses successfully convinced many workers that organized labor had lost its value.
But this union-negotiated salary win at Disneyland — accomplished without the costs of a work stoppage — is certainly something the labor movement can use to brighten its image.
3. “Living” wages[hhmc]
Advocates for low-wage workers argue that $15-an-hour is a reasonable floor at which to move lower-skilled workers toward a “living wage.”
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That notion has been met with, at best, heavy skepticism from Corporate America which counters that too many companies cant afford that much pay. This logic suggests if bosses are forced to up wages, many firms will cut lower-wage workers to stay afloat. Californias minimum wage can be $15 as soon as 2022.
Todays tight labor market strongly suggests wages will be rising nonetheless, as bosses compete to retain and attract workers at all pay grades. So the business validity of the $15-an-hour standard wont be truly tested until the next downturn.
Disneyland may not want to be seen as endorsing $15 as a workable pay floor — but this contract will hit that magic level three years before the states mandate.
4. Tourism pay[hhmc]
Disneyland and other amusement-industry operators have benefited over many decades from a loyal workforce that seemingly enjoys the “magic” of entertaining visitors.
But those loyalties dont buy groceries or put decent roofs over a workers families. So at Disneyland, for example, salary disputes became high-profile battles.
The nations tourism business has to face the fact that its among Americas lowest-paid industries. Certainly, there are many reasons, including a high level of part-time work. But job stats are stark: the median hourly wage is $11 an hour in the amusement and recreation industries vs. $17 for all private-sector work.
And if the current labor shortage is not only a cyclical phenomenon but a long-running pattern due to an aging population, tourism will eventually pay up, like it or not.
This Disneyland contract could be the forerunner of more significant pay across the tourism field.
5. Other Disneyland workers[hhmc]
For the veteran Disneyland workers making above $15 an hour that this contract covered, there was just a 3 percent raise.
And this labor contract doesnt immediately help Disneylands other unionized low-wage workers. Many still make less than $15 an hour.
Not to mention non-union workers at the theme park.
But that could change.
Theres a union-inspired effort to get Anaheim voters to raise the minimum wage in the city to $18 an hour for those who work for employers that gained certain tax breaks from the city.
And internal pressures will increase to realign Disneyland-wide pay as the low-pay to mid-pay gap compresses.
The relative generosity of this contract — $15 an hour doesnt make anybody rich — suggests that big employers like Disney realize that noteworthy pay raises have not been relegated to the corporate archives.
And now its up to workers bees to push pay higher.
Have you checked out Bubble Watch …
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