Home

[id@53]

From dlp.info (click here for original)

As reported earlier the three unions cfdt, CFTC and UNSA have called their members to a strike for today, December 23, 2009 as of 7:00 am over a dispute regarding (mostly) wage increases for 2010 (for details on the reason for the strike and the union demands please check out our earlier coverage). After managing to force a cancelation of "Disney Stars'n'Cars" in the Walt Disney Studios park the striking members dispersed for most of the afternoon but have now resurfaced in the Disneyland Park in time for the Once Upon a Dream Parade.
As both theme parks are packed (making it a perfect day for strike actions from the unions' point of view) guests have been lining the parade route in the Disneyland Park in temperatures around or slightly sub zero for an hour already in anticipation of today's Once Upon a Dream Parade featuring the seasonal Dreams of Christmas add-on staring Santa Claus on his majestic sleigh.

The striking cast members are using this opportunity as this news is being typed and are walking down the Main Street, U.S.A. from Town Square, voicing their demands in a strike march to large crowds of guests along the parade route. It needs to be awaited whether this will have an impact on the parade performance scheduled for 5.00 pm. The result of the strike? Just minutes after 5 pm, the time scheduled for the start of the parade, the park officially announced that today's Once Upon a Dream Parade had to be cancelled!

Our on-site team reports that immediately following the announcement the guests lining the parade route in the cold weather - many of them waiting already for an hour to get a good viewing spot - started to boo and hiss. Apparently guests are extremly upset and an agressive atmosphere aimed directly at the striking cast members is taking hold. The negative reaction is clearly not limited to single guests but has taken hold of the vast majority (if not nearly all) guests as the unions destroy christmas dreams.

[paul]

Is DLP cursed this Christmas or something! :x

[Aveen2008]

Uh-o, that sounds bad :shock:  :shock: !
To be honest I think the cast members put themselves in the firing line by walking down the street chanting about their strike! No one on a holiday or fun trip want to see that sort of thing and they shouldn't have to!!
I think by having just stopped the parade as well as stars and cars from happening they were showing their affect but they didnt need to walk down the main street making things worse for guests who are not to blame! :roll:

I understand cast maybe over worked and under paid but I would of thought there was a better way to take union action and I wouldn't of been surprised if Disney doesn't let them go! :?

[Willow]

Walking down Main Street really helped their cause.....  :roll:

What about all the children who where looking forward to seeing Mickey, Minnie, Pluto etc. in the Parade? They could have only been there for the day and might not be able to get back to the resort in the future.

Well Done to those CM's who walked out. [/sarcasm]

[never2old]

This is terrible!! Ruining the parade for everyone is really not the way to go... I would have been furious if I had been waiting (in the freezing cold!!) and the parade was cancelled because of their strike!

Definitely not the way to get support from the guests...

[Poppy The Monkey]

All the dancers and characters from the parade went out at 5.30pm on Town Square and the HUB to try and give the guests some form of "Disney Magic". A terrible day for the guest, thanks to just a few selfish people....

[Annet]

I really think it's inappropriate to be on strike in a theme park like Disney. Lots of children come there to see their heroes, they won't understand something like a strike... :roll:

[Anthony]

I feel really sorry for all the other cast members who actually continued working and were left to pick up the pieces (and angry guests). What a lovely Christmas gift from their colleagues.

Were there no earlier strikes backstage? They just launched straight into the parks?

[Tuvok]

Totally unexceptable! If you want to strike, do it outsite the parks. They are disrupting the magic for the guest and the children. The union spokesman said it would not impact the guest experience and they would only gather at the entrance of the park... RIGHT

Hope this gives DLRP the right to fire them directly. I'm not against strikes, but why does it always effect customers?

First video on Youtube with the march through Main Street:

[youtube:27i7oz43]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkgOGJ1cFUs[/youtube:27i7oz43]

[MagicKenny]

It looks horrible!
I think that guests don't see this as a visit they would like to see, and people that visit for the first time, may not come back when they've seen this stupid act!

[never2old]

All the dancers and characters from the parade went out at 5.30pm on Town Square and the HUB to try and give the guests some form of "Disney Magic". A terrible day for the guest, thanks to just a few selfish people....

That was a nice touch!

[davewasbaloo]

Hopefully these devients will encounter justice in some form or another.

Poppy - well done to you and your colleagues who tried to make the most of it.

[Scissorsboi]

I've been reading for a while, and kept putting off joining, however after reading this I felt I had to put my two cents in. Quite simply, this isn't Disney behaviour, Walt's vision was a place people could go to get away from everyday life, to escape. But to have people parading down Main Street with banners, whistles and chants looks more like something I'd see outside Downing Street. Totally ruining the magic of all the guests.

I work at a theme park myself, and I know that theme park workers worldwide are considered "overworked and underpaid" - it's a common trend. However, striking and ruining a guests day is something that should never happen. I hope that the people who did this are dismissed - there's nothing wrong with striking for a cause, but they ruined an image which is known worldwide, and I'm willing to guess that Disney have it written into the contracts that inappropriate behaviour can result in disciplinary action, including dismissal. I know that the WDW teams have it in theirs, it's in mine, and I'd put what this group did down in that category of inappropriate behaviour.

Out of interest what did the rest of the parade staff do? Was it a mass character meet, or some sort of pre-rehearsed show in case of situations like this? It's nice to see that despite the actions of a few, there are always dedicated people willing to put themselves out to bring the magic back!

[Tuvok]

From DLP.Info:

Strike Finished

Yesterday, December 23rd, 2009, the three unions representing cast members of Disneyland Paris, cfdt, CFTC and UNSA, called their members for a strike. However, contradicting earlier internal statements that their actions wouldn't impact the experience and seasonal magic of guests in the two packed parks the unions took the action on-stage. The result? Canceled performances of Disney's Stars'n'Cars in the Walt Disney Studios Park and the Once Upon a Dream Parade in the Disneyland Park (for a detailed coverage and photos check our two live-posts from the site of the strike, a) for the Studios and b) for Disneyland). Whether the action had the positive impact for the demands of the unions (mostly regarding increases of wages in 2010 versus the "zero wage increase" proposal of the management) they had hoped for needs to be awaited. But there is some good news today as well...
The strike has been finished with the end of December 23rd, 2009, so guests should be able to enjoy the christmas magic of Disneyland Paris again fully. Also the official website of the union cfdt on which usually the union's call to a strike are published in advance do not include any hints that further strikes would be planned.

Also it should be noted that only a small number of cast members participated in the strike and the majorityof cast members did their best to pick up the broken pieces of the christmas dreams of the guests left behind by the strikers and bring back the fun and magic of the season. According to reports the complete cast of the Once Upon a Dream Parade, that is all dancers and Disney characters, came out onto Town Square and Central Plaza around 5.30 pm to offer some extra Disney magic to make up for the actions of their fellow cast members. A great action!

[thebatman_1]

I work in the Character & Parade department and the strike sickens me! Fair enough I live in France and I understand the french love to strike but do it backstage!
Also, not one member of my department went on strike I must add. And what annoys me is that these idiots stop us from doing our jobs because we won't strike with them.
The reason the parades didn't go out was that they blocked our access into the parks!
I'm so annoyed!