News, Homelessness in the Happiest Place on Earth: Disney World Workers Sleep in Motels. (employee, apply)
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A Disney worker earning $8 an hour and opting for health insurance will take home about $225/week. There are a ton of rental homes and apartments on the bus line that serves Disney that will run $300-350 a month including utilities in a roommate situation. A monthly bus pass is $50. Anyone who can't live on $575 a month after rent/utilities and transportation has some serious issues.
Corporations should not feel obligated to pay unskilled labor more simply because they "have bills" or "families." We all do.
Remember, anyone in a low-wage job is "lazy, unskilled, and has no education," and thus deserves to starve... and if they use social safety nets to survive, we're supposed to condemn them for that, too... and if they do have skills and education, they are "entitled" for expecting those to count for something...
Of course, this is the same Disney that handed out golden parachutes of absurd size to Eisner, Ovitz, etc. So, as always, double standards: give the guys at the top all the credit and money, and then claim the workers who allow the company to operate day to day are "worth nothing."
Eisner is a savage who has turned Walt Disney's company into a wholesome entertainment venture into a Social Marxist trash factory.
It comes across as odd that s1alker says what he does, because if I have it correct, he has only worked low paying retail jobs with wages that would have one starving to death in the overly priced city in which I reside without social, familial, or governmental support.
It isn't even new for Walt Disney World. Their college program housing has often been the subject of concern. There was one period of time I recall when the participants were moved into a Disney hotel that had been closed because it no longer met code to be used as accommodation for guests - but it was still legal to house employees there. As bad as Disney is as an employer, there are so many worse transgressors against their employees, granted license to exploit the workforce and abuse their excessive financial power over employees due to excessively lenient regulation and insincere enforcement.
Yes the Treehouse Villas. They were used for the international students working in Epcot as cultural ambassadors and guest workers on the international program. From what I remember they weren't THAT bad but not the easiest to get to. The biggest issue was the pool which was too deep (one of the main reasons it was shut down when the Disney Institute was closed to become the Saratoga Springs Resort. They only did that while working on a new apartment complex and shortly afterwards the villas were refurbished to be updated including or ADA law. I know this only because I did the college program and quite frankly it was not that bad. The college program has a good chunk of the lower wage employees with a mix of elderly and some who are the same age as college program workers but aren't, then you have coordinators, managers, etc.
Lumping the college program into the issue is a bit of a problem. They've gone leaps and bounds away from the trailers when they first started the program.
The theme park’s employees are paid so little they cannot afford housing in the Orlando area.
Disney World may be the happiest place on earth, but it turns out a hotbed of income inequality is simmering around Cinderella’s castle. Despite visitors paying about $100 a pop to enter the Orlando, Fla., theme park, the employees who create such a magical experience for guests are too poor to afford permanent housing.
What would you expect theme park employees to earn? It;s a minimum wage job, unless you're Cinderella or Pooh, who get a bit more than "regular" park workers. This is no different in any resort area. We get tons of kids down the shore each summer, many from Eastern Europe. They work at the amusement piers and food places on the boardwalk, and certainly can't afford the same rental prices tourists are paying. So they stay in boarding houses 6 to a room for the summer.
Do you think McDonalds workers in San Francisco or Manhattan can afford housing there?
What would you expect theme park employees to earn? It;s a minimum wage job, unless you're Cinderella or Pooh, who get a bit more than "regular" park workers. This is no different in any resort area. We get tons of kids down the shore each summer, many from Eastern Europe. They work at the amusement piers and food places on the boardwalk, and certainly can't afford the same rental prices tourists are paying. So they stay in boarding houses 6 to a room for the summer.
Do you think McDonalds workers in San Francisco or Manhattan can afford housing there?
Yes, that's true, and why do they hire all those kids from Europe? Can't they get American kids to work at the shore for the summer as they always did?
Aren't many of these positions short term/transient/seasonal types of jobs? I didn't think they were really geared towards people who would be looking to buy a house or stick around for multiple years. Or maybe that's just a stereotype.
Well... perhaps they should have considered furthering their education, or maybe not having kids before they could afford to do so. I know some people fall into rough patches but far too many make poor choices in life. Personal responsibility is becoming a lost concept in this country.
This. While not every minimum wage earner is the same and everyone has a different story and different circumstances, this scenario is common.
This is really nothing new. Millions upon millions work low paying jobs and live in high COL areas. I lived in a motel for many years and never considered myself homeless. Theme park attendant jobs, along with fast food are not living wage careers.
Motels are pretty pricey too. Cheapest ones I see around here seem to be about $200/week, and are real dives. You could rent a room in a house for less than that... but yeah, I agree, you're not homeless if you're living in a motel.
There is no story here. They aren't prisoners, they are free to leave at any time. The market dictates the wage and if nobody can be found to work, then Disney will pay more. Unfortunately, for now there are plenty of takers at their current wage. In addition, each of them has an obligation to themselves and this country to better their life through more education, certifications, experience or whatever. how many of those "homeless" are taking any classes or learning new skills? Probably none.
Something is not right here. The Disneyland here in California pays pretty well from what I read.
No it doesn't. When I started in sales in Southern CA everyone that sold or was in business said don't approach Disney they pay crap. They act like it's a privilege to work, The Disney tax, similar to Florida's sunshine tax. Makes sense work at Disneyworld get screwed twice. Disney and sunshine tax.
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