$15 Minimum Wage by 2021!

[middlechild]

In hindsight, seeing the success, the original push for a living wage should have been $20. Oh well, start again next year for the $5 difference. Because everyone deserves a "living wage".

 

[Scifidiner]

Quite happy to pay just a bit more if I am slightly more assured the folks making my dreams come true are recognized for their contributions.

If the increased wages don’t cost Disney a penny, why did they fight so hard to keep wages down?

Probably because Disney will have to raise prices somewhere and some people are already irritated at the cost of a Disney trip. That and they won't see the profit from raising prices to compensate for the increase in payroll. The dirty little secret is when this occurs the corporation will also decrease positions and combine jobs, so fewer people make more. This isn't unique to Disney it's just business.

 

[Animal]

With inflation, there are winners and losers. If you owe the bank 200k on a mortgage, 20k on a car, and 30k on student loans, inflation is your friend. The $ you repay the bank are worth less than the $ you borrowed. If you have 2M in cash, you don't like inflation.

 

[Remy is Up]

Reality check and maybe a little off topic but since some seem to like to demonize companies like Disney and particularly on this board Disney, as a shareholder of the company and an exec at a family owned company who deals with Disney.....also simple economics...There is no longer slavery or serfdom. Noone MAKES you take a job. You are worth the value the market withstands and believes you are worth. Dont like what you are being paid??? Go improve your skill set, get a degree, or move to another job. When you accept the position dont complain about the pay after the fact. Reality is, keep complaining or have a union handle it for you and here are the results..See steel mills in the northeast or the fact that most American based Industry cant compete due to higher salaries that noone can pay or then see what McDonalds and other companies have used to offset things..they just eliminate jobs and replace with technology...So while I think its nice Disney is going to pay more, the reality is, a salary is earned through work or education, not given or deserved. Nowhere in the BOR does it guarantee a 6 figure salary. So when a company makes a concession and pays more, you can bet the consumer will pay for it, so rather than blame Disney, realize A. Its not just Disney, and B. those demands by workers for increases will be passed along to you. Remember that when you see the next ticket increase..

 

[MuppetFan418]

In 1970 I was 18 years old and started working in the motion picture business. It was a union job and my starting pay was $28.50 an hour. I worked in it for 32 years and retired at 50. Hate to tell you what I was making then.

Holy cow. That's a TON of money for a starting rate in 2018, let alone 1970. What kind of job was it?

 

[Networth]

Holy cow. That's a TON of money for a starting rate in 2018, let alone 1970. What kind of job was it?

I would love to know what job as well (union or not). Considering $28.50 in 1970 is about $180-185 today.

 

[jarestel]

All costs rise over time... food, housing, transportation, theme parks, and yes wages. Disney isn't raising the federal minimum wage, they are setting a minimum value for people who want to work for TWDC. Just like most of the companies that we all work for do. Not sure why this stirs such active resentment in some folks because this is simply the way things work.

 

[dlavender]

Reality check and maybe a little off topic but since some seem to like to demonize companies like Disney and particularly on this board Disney, as a shareholder of the company and an exec at a family owned company who deals with Disney.....also simple economics...There is no longer slavery or serfdom. Noone MAKES you take a job. You are worth the value the market withstands and believes you are worth. Dont like what you are being paid??? Go improve your skill set, get a degree, or move to another job. When you accept the position dont complain about the pay after the fact. Reality is, keep complaining or have a union handle it for you and here are the results..See steel mills in the northeast or the fact that most American based Industry cant compete due to higher salaries that noone can pay or then see what McDonalds and other companies have used to offset things..they just eliminate jobs and replace with technology...So while I think its nice Disney is going to pay more, the reality is, a salary is earned through work or education, not given or deserved. Nowhere in the BOR does it guarantee a 6 figure salary. So when a company makes a concession and pays more, you can bet the consumer will pay for it, so rather than blame Disney, realize A. Its not just Disney, and B. those demands by workers for increases will be passed along to you. Remember that when you see the next ticket increase..

So when they have raised ticket prices 100% over the last 10 years or so, and hotel prices 20-40% over the same period, what was the excuse? They will conveniently "blame" the labor cost this time, but its not genuine. This is the fundamental issue. Profit margins keep increasing, then people get upset when they realize they are paying more in taxes to subsidize said company's increased profits. We have to pay more so that the company can pay less. Doesn't make sense. Why should society be burdened with making up the shortcomings in pay while the corporation gets to keep increasing the coffers? And to a more macro level, what happens if everyone takes your advice? What if everyone has an MBA (seems like everyone already does)? Hard fact is that there simply aren't enough higher paying jobs for everyone. We need people to take the lower level jobs. Why not shift the onus from society to the corporation to take care of their people?

Paraphrased.....they already are going to charge us more, at the very least this time they will spread the love a little more.....

 

[Carrie Ellis]

Capitalism works and it is the answer. Crony capitalism is bad, real bad. There has to be some regulations that control crony capitalism. It is out of control now because of lobbyist and maybe unable to be repaired. The $15/hr push by employees and maybe their union does not bother me as long as it is not state or federal government doing it. Hopefully it was still a choice made by Disney and not something else. My kids have a hard time finding an entry level job because it seem like so many adults are making it a life job. Disney prices are really going up. There could come a time that we start going a LOT less or not at all. It is their choice to raise prices and it will be our choice if we want to go. Vacations are not a need. I was born in the 70s and we lived on the bare minimum. Vacations were very few. My dad was a police officer and mom stayed home.

If you study Walt Disney, how he grew up and how he made it. It is hard to feel sorry for anyone at entry level who complains about their salary. We still have choices.

 

[Remy is Up]

It is hard to feel sorry for anyone at entry level who complains about their salary. We still have choices.

And exactly the reason I dont feel too awfully sorry when people complain about the amount they make. You stated it as succinctly as it can be stated. Everyone has choices and its up to them to determine what path they choose to walk.

 

[disneynutz]

By 2021 Disney will have over 30 billion in net profit, shouldn't be an issue paying more in wages.

Bill

 

[dlavender]

By 2021 Disney will have over 30 billion in net profit, shouldn't be an issue paying more in wages.

Bill

That's about as succinctly as one can put it. Why should the tax payers help pay for a company's workforce when that company has $30 billion in profit?

 

[Carrie Ellis]

That's about as succinctly as one can put it. Why should the tax payers help pay for a company's workforce when that company has $30 billion in profit?

Oh I agree too but I believe the best way to not agree is to not go. I do my best to not shop at Walmart for the same reason. If Disney chooses to use an increase in ticket prices to pay for wages instead of mega profits, then it will get to the point that we do not go anymore.

 

[Planogirl]

We have choices but I believe that companies would gladly pay their employees virtually nothing if they could get away with it. People like to badmouth unions now but working conditions were pretty bad before they came along. They might have pushed things too far but I believe that they were needed.

It's also easy to tell people to just get a better job. Sure good jobs are out there but most openings seem to involve the service industry which isn't exactly known for paying well. Even if only kids were taking these jobs I hardly think it's fair to never increase the pay. Buying power also helps the economy.

 

[DisFanDad]

This is good for the front line CM’s



Yup chicken feed for sweeping floors. You want to be paid more? Learn a trade or skill, or go to college and get a useful degree. That’s why they are called “entry” level positions.

And yet, if everyone did this, there wouldn't be enough of those jobs to go around. Everyone who works a full week should be able to afford to live in dignity.

 

[DisFanDad]

Any company that increases their budget for payroll has to figure out how to offset it or recoup the income flow somewhere. Dont comment like its just Disney. EVERY company passes it on in some way.

They don't. There are many companies who opt to pay their workers higher wages and do not pass on that cost to customers.

 

[DisFanDad]

We have choices but I believe that companies would gladly pay their employees virtually nothing if they could get away with it. People like to badmouth unions now but working conditions were pretty bad before they came along. They might have pushed things too far but I believe that they were needed.
.

And if anyone picked up a history book, or looked around the world to places wages / benefits / protections aren't regulated, they'd see you are absolutely correct.

 

[DisFanDad]

That's about as succinctly as one can put it. Why should the tax payers help pay for a company's workforce when that company has $30 billion in profit?

And that $30 Billion in PROFIT is after operating costs, paying its works and paying its execs/management massive amounts.

 

[dlavender]

And yet, if everyone did this, there wouldn't be enough of those jobs to go around. Everyone who works a full week should be able to afford to live in dignity.

This is one of those facts that are never acknowledged by the side against increased wages.

There are simply not enough "living wage" jobs. Another "annoying" fact that gets in the way of the free market love, is that not everyone has equal opportunity. Not everyone has the same IQ or physical ability. That is fact. Should someone with a low IQ who may only be suited for service work never be able to make enough to live in dignity? One of many examples of why the get a better job line falls flat.....

 

[DisFanDad]

Reality check and maybe a little off topic but since some seem to like to demonize companies like Disney and particularly on this board Disney, as a shareholder of the company and an exec at a family owned company who deals with Disney.....also simple economics...There is no longer slavery or serfdom. Noone MAKES you take a job. You are worth the value the market withstands and believes you are worth. Dont like what you are being paid??? Go improve your skill set, get a degree, or move to another job. When you accept the position dont complain about the pay after the fact. Reality is, keep complaining or have a union handle it for you and here are the results..See steel mills in the northeast or the fact that most American based Industry cant compete due to higher salaries that noone can pay or then see what McDonalds and other companies have used to offset things..they just eliminate jobs and replace with technology...So while I think its nice Disney is going to pay more, the reality is, a salary is earned through work or education, not given or deserved. Nowhere in the BOR does it guarantee a 6 figure salary. So when a company makes a concession and pays more, you can bet the consumer will pay for it, so rather than blame Disney, realize A. Its not just Disney, and B. those demands by workers for increases will be passed along to you. Remember that when you see the next ticket increase..

You realize the "market" assigning you worth isn't really a "market" right ? Its a relative few people who have undue influence on what the "market" says you are worth ... and that does sound an awful lot like those things you try to deny exist. Especially when your solution is, just do what the "market" tells you to do and you can be more prosperous. Of course, you fail to acknowledge the MILLIONs of people who have done exactly what you suggest, and still are not economically well off. You also ignore the fact that the "market" has created a situation where its not as simple as "go improve your skills, get and education, etc" for many people, for many reasons, those just aren't viable options. They aren't. And you can point to anecdotes of people overcoming obstacles / odds to do well, but again, you ignore the MILLIONS who tried, and couldn't / didn't, often because of the barriers that exist in the system. You also fail to recognize that for every "better paying" job, there are thousands of minimum wage (or near minimum). Which means its quite literally impossible for your advice to actually help most people, because for every single one that lifts themselves up, it requires thousands stay stuck in the lower end of the economy.

And lastly, you assume consumers "have" to pay for it, they don't. But the very fact that you (and many others) have been brainwashed to think like this is all the cover companies like disney require to indeed pass on such costs to consumers, and further vilify any worker demands, which by the way eventually becomes universally true, so we all want more, and we all want no one else to get anymore, thus we become our own oppressors. All a company needs to do is break even, that's it. Pay its operating costs, wages, salaries, upkeep, etc, and break even. Profits are nice, but for a company to remain viable, it needs to break even. Profits are good for investors, and owners certainly, but the company itself doesn't need them. There is no reason a company that makes billions in profit needs to pass on additional costs (wages) to consumers, it is a CHOICE to do so, one designed to benefit its owners/shareholders and often its upper management whose compensation is a reflection of stock value / profit increases. If everyone actually got more upset by this type of behavior, instead of justifying it because that's "just the way it is", we'd all be a lot better off, and we wouldn't see the massive gaps in wealth inequality we do today. After all, things are only "just the way they are" because we allow them to be.