Disney On Strike???

[KristiKelly]

MomOf2InPa
I agree

 

[mitros]

Instead of US paying more, they should pay EISNER Less!.........Yea, right!

 

[WDSearcher]

Alas, paying Michael a few million less wouldn't really add that much to the line CM's pay rate. And pay rate isn't even at the center of the discussion anyway. It's about health care and about pension vs. 401(k) for hourly cast. Sure, you could take Michael's salary away and have him live on his stock options, thereby pumping a bit more into the health care contribution from the company, but that still doesn't solve the problem.

 

[KNWVIKING]

What's the deal with the pension ? The employee's do or don't want to go to a 401k ?

 

[WDSearcher]

Viking -- As I understand it, the Company wants to to do away with the pension system and give hourly CMs a 401(k) instead. The union disagrees with this concept and wants to maintain the pension, saying that many of the hourly rank and file won't pay into a 401(k) and that they'd be better off in the long run with a pension that they only have to pay into for a certain amount of time (until they're vested), after which the company continues to maintain it. The argument is that if given the choice between having the extra money in their paycheck or putting X amount into a 401(k), most hourly employees will choose the "more money now" approach. So ... the company wants to go to 401(k), while the union wants to maintain the pension.

I'm sure it's MUCH more complicated than that, but that's the Reader's Digest Condensed version!

 

[KNWVIKING]

Do you know who actually maintains the pension fund ? Disney or the union ?

20 yrs ago my fathers union put everybody out on strike over the pension fund. They wanted the employer to contribute more, stated it was under funded. As it turned out, the union recieved the pension funds from the company and basically squandered them. The union needed the company to bail them out and didn't want the members to know the truth about why they were on strike for six months.

 

[papagooch]

I believe they have extended contract to Nov 4. Hope they solve this before Jan.

 

[WDSearcher]

Originally posted by KNWVIKING
Do you know who actually maintains the pension fund ? Disney or the union ?

I believe it's Disney maintained, but I'm sure it's with union participation. Various unions throughout property have the ability to pay into the pension, so I don't know that it's JUST a Service Trades thing.