This is entirely my own opinion, but I think WDW has needed to restructure its castmember employment practices for a while. I think WDW gets a lot of credit for employing a lot of people, but they employ way too many people. For example, in order to get a part-time merchandising job at WDW, you have to guarantee three days/shifts a week of availability. But this does not mean you are guaranteed three shifts a week. In fact, you can be scheduled for less, or none. And to a point, some of the castmembers have benefited from this. Some employees want to remain employed just for the benefits, and couldn't care less about working shifts. This creates extra shifts that those who aren't scheduled for as many shifts as they want or need can fill by trading for shifts. I base this on my DW's experience since being hired last October.
But should Disney get credit for employing so many castmembers when a significant amount may be working minimal shifts if any. It would be one thing if Disney specifically hired people with the expectation that they would work one shift a week or none, but they don't. The castmembers have to promise their availability for at least 3 shifts a week, in exchange for employment that doesn't actually guarantee any work.
I don;t think that model is/was fair to the castmembers, or sustainable in the long run. Even now, as WDW has reopened and some castmembers have returned to work, those castmembers are often being assigned roles that they were not in before, and having to work days/shifts that are outside the original 3 days/shifts that they were told they had to be available. And again, they have brought back so many castmembers that (in some cases) they are not able to work enough shifts to make as much as they were making pre-covid, or on unemployment. Something had to change eventually. I hope any cuts are used to build a more efficient and fair employment model.
