Originally Posted By trekkeruss ^^But you weren't wet behind the ears at that pont. I am talking about brand new, FOB CM's. Those are the ones who need to be brought up to speed on what is (or was) the Disney standard.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper Back in the early 90's Michael Eisner was asked by Larry King (taping in the Golden Horseshoe theatre) what he felt about a large percentage of his "cast members" making less that what is considered the poverty level and needing food stamps. Eisner got up and left the interview. Notably, he did not answer the question. This is a problem in the service industry, of which Disney is one of the most well known players.
Originally Posted By LuvDatDisney ^^Yes. But it's also endemic of the awful way we treat workers in this country. Yet, all the right-wing nuts, make fun of the French when they protest and riot and stand up for the rights of workers. Minimum wage is a joke. It's akin to legislated slavery. But what would you expect from a WalMart society? I also read recently that if you compared the average wage at DL in 1980 vs. today, and adjusted for inflation, the typical CM would be making well over $20 an hour (a liveable wage). Gee, and we wonder why so many CMs don't even know who Walt Disney was.
Originally Posted By alisserae Not sure if this has been mentioned already... but has anyone else heard about WDW raising minimum pay to $7.25/hr? We saw an ad in the Orlando Weekly, and thought maybe it was a typo.
Originally Posted By LuvDatDisney ^^No. They should make a big step up ... you know to maybe $9 an hour. You would see a jump in the quality of applicants. Could do it. But it would be "bad business" according to the people who make too much themselves.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 LDD, if Disney paid a liveable wage think of all those trailer parks and tenements that would go empty. That would be a tragedy.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <^^Yes. But it's also endemic of the awful way we treat workers in this country. Yet, all the right-wing nuts, make fun of the French when they protest and riot and stand up for the rights of workers< got to be careful making blanket statement like that -- do the French pay union auto workers $80K+ a year to put bumpers of cars because the worker has been there 30 years. It is great for the worker but one of the reasons ( along with mismanagement in general) Ford and GM has 1 of every 3 workers on the payroll ( pensions)- retired - and many long timers overpaid to the point they may bothnot exist in 5 - 10 years...junk status on their bonds already etc. the UAW contracts, although negotiated in good faith-- were very shortsighted by all involved...now the company is not competitive because of what the labor costs are to assemble a car. Don;t get me wrong, if I'm that auto worker I want the cash too.... the problem is there's little in between salary wise...so lets not pretend ALL workers in this country are mistreated...
Originally Posted By cape cod joe I think Orlando has to go the way of the our Cape and pay more for the services. As I mentioned yesterday, landscapers are making a two bitter an hour here, with the services climbing over $12 as the price of living is going sky high. WDW has to get workers and I predict they'll be paying over 10 by 2007 or they won't have any workers> simple law of supply and demand.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 LuvDat -- not trying to bust ya -- just that we have those who make way too little for what they do -- those that make way too much ( I used one worker example but let's start with CEO's CFO's etc making 100 times more than een the line management that runs the business )- etc...... the pay scale is screwed up - that I agree with
Originally Posted By cape cod joe 55--That' why maybe corps should go back to Ben and Jerry's idea of only making a certain more than the workers> I forget what it was but very reasonable rather than the ridiculous money most ceo's make.
Originally Posted By LuvDatDisney "LuvDat -- not trying to bust ya -- just that we have those who make way too little for what they do -- those that make way too much ( I used one worker example but let's start with CEO's CFO's etc making 100 times more than een the line management that runs the business )- etc...... the pay scale is screwed up - that I agree with" I agree completely. I just see very scary trends in the American workplace. I'm not a parent, but I fear for the children in my family and those of my friends. I just see such a disparity. I also see way too many politicians, on both sides, justifying the treatment of workers on everything from outsourcing to cutting medical benefits to hiring temps and parttimers in order "to compete." I just think that's a crock. The problem isn't that American businesses need to cut the fat to compete -- unless that fat is in the exec suite -- it's that enough is never enough. If you make a $50 million profit this year, you need to make $75-85 million the next. It's a viscious cycle that only helps Wall Street and institutional investors under the guise that it's capitalism and anyone who disagrees must be a socialist. I am scared about the direction of labor in this country. And WDW is as guilty of mistreating workers as much as any large company is. And since I don't want this thread moved to WE, where I won't venture, I'll shutup now .
Originally Posted By DVC_dad You know times have changed quite a bit over the last say 40 years. I remember my dad's best friend growing up (I am 38) worked at Sears in the tool dept, and that was his living! His kids have nice stuff, and they had a pool and other things as well, that a lot of people didn't have. In days of old you could earn a descent living as head of house with a family doing a lot of things that hardly pay anything now. Is our standard of living going to continue to spiral downward in the USA? It's all becuase of Walmart !
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<It's all becuase of Walmart !>> People have gotten smarter around here than they used to be.
Originally Posted By NikkiLOVESMickey The only retail outlet job I've heard of in recent yars that allows people to make a living wage is Whole Foods. Their starting pay for employees who work in the stores (not executives) is $13.25/hour.
Originally Posted By NikkiLOVESMickey ^^^^^They sure know how to make tiramisu, too. If you haven't tried it, RUN to your local Whole Foods ASAP! It's so good it'll make you want to slap your mama!
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>The only retail outlet job I've heard of in recent yars that allows people to make a living wage is Whole Foods. Their starting pay for employees who work in the stores (not executives) is $13.25/hour.<< There are a few others. CostCo comes to mind. Some grocery chains are also still unionized, but are getting killed by WalMart.
