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Why unionize?
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Unionizing gives us collective power to have our voices finally heard by management. We will be able to resolve ongoing issues through an open dialogue process and to sit down to negotiate a contract every few years.
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Contracts (or collective bargaining agreements, aka CBAs) create legal backing and accountability between us as workers and with Disney management.
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Being a member of a union means knowing that your colleagues and union staff reps will stand by you to ensure your rights are protected.
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What am I agreeing to when I say yes to the union?
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Your “yes” means that you will sign a Union Authorization Card and vote “yes” if a formal election is necessary.
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Cast Members within both Parades and Characters will indicate they want Equity to represent them in negotiations for a union contract by completing a form called a Union Authorization Card (which may be online or on a physical card). Once we receive majority support, we will petition Disney to recognize the union, which they can do either voluntarily or through a union election.
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Signing a card is confidential and the names of those who sign cards are never seen by Disney management.
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How might unionizing change the work we do?
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Unionizing will not limit your ability to do Traditions, Step Into the Magic, or any role that is available for CrossU to unionized Cast Members.
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No rules from other departments/unions will automatically be imposed on us. We will determine during the proposal process what we want, wish for, or will walk away from as a collective.
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Legally, Disney cannot take away what we currently have in retaliation for joining a union. What we have currently is the floor for negotiations.
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Will my ability to communicate directly with managers change when we unionize?
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No. You will always be able to speak directly with your managers as you do now. However, with a union you have an extra level of assistance available if your managers are not making themselves available or if they are not acting in accordance with your contract.
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Will Characters and Parades become one department? Will cross-utilization be forced?
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That is not something we are asking for. Our goal is to be under one contract, which is not uncommon, with many sub-clauses to address the specific circumstances of hosts, leads, schedulers, safety, trainers, Fantasmic, PBA, etc…
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Everyone will be surveyed and represented in the contract.
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At WDW, Characters and Parades are represented by the same union and have a unified contract, but they chose to merge as one department.
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What about hosts? What about trainers, leads, schedulers?
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Equity supports a contract covering everyone doing the work surrounding performances within the Character or Parades Departments at the Resort including sculpted, look-alikes, hosts, dancers, leads, trainers and schedulers.
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Within Parades, we are not seeking to cover those who deal more with the technical side or driving, as we believe there are other unions in the park that would be better to represent them. Equity is willing to help facilitate those conversations with the other unions for those interested.
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Will shift preferences and RDOs be honored? Will trades to off still be available to us?
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Legally, Disney cannot take away what we currently have in retaliation for joining a union. What we have currently is the floor for negotiations. When we sit down to bargain our first contract, we can advocate for any improvements we hope to see in the contract, but of course nothing is guaranteed.
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If another Entertainment union strikes, what happens to us?
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Currently Disneyland has a coalition of unions that use their collective strength to achieve their goals.
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When we start the bargaining process, we can decide what our support of the other unions will look like.
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Who is Actors’ Equity Association?
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Equity is one of the largest member-run live performance unions in the United States, representing actors, singers, dancers and stage managers nationwide.
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They provide benefits, contract negotiation and enforcement, job access for performers, resources, training and connections for our unionizing efforts.
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You can visit their website at actorsequity.org.
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Can I be a member of multiple unions at the same time?
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Yes. Lots of Equity members are also members of SAG-AFTRA and AGVA, for example.
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Do I get kicked out of Equity if I quit my job at Disneyland?
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No, you would remain a member until you resign from membership or stop paying dues.
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Why Equity over anyone else?
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Equity is behind us 100% and supports a contract that covers everyone in Entertainment who makes the performances possible. Additionally, they have a great relationship with Disney and the negotiating team because they already represent Cast Members at Walt Disney World.
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Equity has a 30-year bargaining history with Disney representing the stage performers in WDW (the AGVAs here), so they understand what being a part of the Walt Disney Company is like. They know that we can be treated better because they are treated very well in WDW. Read more from a WDW cast member.
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We were denied representation from AGVA because they did not have the bandwidth to support two departments this large.
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Additionally, having two Entertainment Department unions strengthens our power.
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AGVA has written a letter of support to Equity/Magic United, and we can work with AGVA to hold Disney accountable.
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IATSE was not the best fit for us.
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Who will represent us at contract negotiations?
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Lawyers and Negotiators from Equity and a Negotiation Committee composed of Cast Members we ourselves elect.
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We can elect a large and diverse group of cast members from every role and department to ensure every voice is represented.
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Organizers are not guaranteed to be on the negotiating committee. Anyone is eligible.
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Does signing a card and voting “yes” mean I’m joining Equity? Can I still work at a non-union theatre?
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Joining Equity is a separate process once we win recognition, and there will be a way to opt out.
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If you do opt to join, it would restrict you from working at a non-union theatre except in special circumstances.
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Regardless of your choice to join Equity or not, you’d be covered by the contract when doing Character or Parade performance work.
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By joining, you’ll have the full benefits and access that other Equity members have, like voting for the board and contract ratification, participating in negotiations and labor/management meetings, attending membership meetings, having audition access/priority, discounts, etc.
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For more information about the difference between joining and not, view this infographic or see below.
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What’s the timeline and our plan to win? What does bargaining a contract look like?
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Once we have more than a majority of cards signed, we will ask Disney for voluntary recognition and file with the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) to recognize Equity as our bargaining representative without having to go through the election process.
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If Disney declines to voluntarily recognize our union, the NLRB will set a date for a formal union election, during which everyone eligible for the union can cast a secret ballot indicating whether they support unionization. If a majority of the ballots cast are in favor, our union will be officially recognized.
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Once we win recognition, we’ll start to bargain for a contract! This process may take months, but Equity has a strong bargaining relationship with Disney that we believe will help make the process positive and collaborative for Magic United as well.
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Coming to a consensus on proposals for what goes in the contract will be done through surveys, focus groups/group meetings and ongoing one-on-one conversations. There will be a bargaining team of your colleagues that will be representative of different perspectives and roles. The team will use their judgment as well as their knowledge in representing their coworkers in trying to reach the best deal possible. That contract will then go to those who join Equity for ratification/approval.
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Contracts usually are multi-year, and when they expire, we renegotiate to continue to make improvements!
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What are Dues?
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Dues pay for Equity staff and resources that will help us represent ourselves.
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Working Dues are 2.5% of your weekly paycheck. We will more than cover those dues by negotiating higher pay and premiums in a contract. As long as we achieve a $0.68 raise, you will not feel the dues, although nothing is guaranteed. See F&B, AGVA, SAG-AFTRA contract raises. We are at the floor of what is possible; it is illegal for the employer to lower your pay because of unionizing.
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Equity’s Basic Dues are $176 annually, billed at $88 twice a year each May and November.
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You may see an Initiation Fee of $1800 associated with Equity, but when someone joins Equity via an organizing campaign, there is no initiation fee.
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At WDW the initiation fee is $125 to join, and Equity is hopeful that if we win, we’ll have access to that lower rate for Cast Members who join after unionizing. The lower rate does only apply to the work within the parks, and there may still be a requirement to pay the balance of the full $1800 initiation fee if you take traditional theatrical Equity work outside the parks.
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Union dues are tax deductible on your California state tax return. They are not currently deductible on federal returns.
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Why did the Puppeteers get let go after unionizing? Same for Lion King?
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According to the AGVA rep that organized the puppeteers, their title was in effect a “stage” puppeteer so when the production changed the show, they were not included. Cast Members from Festival of the Lion King reported that there were bigger issues at play that caused the closure of the show, unrelated to contract negotiations. Luckily, we hold a lot of power being 1700 strong AND being the heart of the magic at Disney. It is unlikely they will do away will all Character and Parade performers. Moreover, the Characters and Parades departments are union at WDW, and they have not been let go either.
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What is the difference between signing a card, voting yes and joining (”opting in”)?
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Signing a union authorization card is a formal way to indicate that you believe Actors’ Equity Association should represent Characters and Parades in contract negotiations with your employer. A certain number of these cards are required to demand a formal union election.
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Voting yes in the union election is a legal vote in favor of formalizing the relationship with Actors’ Equity Association. If a majority (50% +1) of those who vote in the election are in favor, then you officially have a union!
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“Opting in” or joining Equity is a choice each of us will make independent of how we vote in the union election. Being union members gives us a bigger say in certain decisions such as voting to ratify our contract and voting on our union leadership. Here’s an infographic with quick information about what joining the union gets you. More information below about the difference between joining Equity and opting out.