UPDATED with latest: Hundreds, if not thousands, of protesters took over Main Street U.S.A. at Disneyland Paris on Wednesday as an industrial action by cast members demanding better pay and conditions stretched across a third day.
Key demands include a net monthly pay rise of $213 (€200) for all the employees at the park, higher pay for Sunday shifts and additional help with transport costs to the site, which is situated 20 miles (32 kilometres) east of Central Paris.
Videos posted to social media showed Main Street packed with supporters chanting, blowing whistles and waving flags.
Le Monde reported chants of “Fed up with being broke like Donald Duck” and “Mickey doesn’t listen to us despite his big ears” were heard.
PREVIOUSLY on June 6: Disneyland Paris was hit by a strike and demonstrations on Tuesday amid escalating industrial action by cast members who are demanding better pay and conditions.
Hundreds of cast members paraded through the theme park out of costume waving banners bearing slogans such as “The Magic Doesn’t Exist Without Us” and “Unhappy Cast Member: Stitch Is Showing His Teeth”.
Twitter account DLP Report, an anonymous fan account covering events at the theme park, posted numerous shots of protestors walking through key landmarks such as Frontierland, Central Plaza and the Disney Castle.
The labor dispute has been dragging on since last August and this is the fourth physical demonstration at the park in recent weeks.
Momentum around the action has been building with 1,000 of the park’s 17,000 employees joining a similar demonstration on Saturday. Numbers for today’s demonstration have yet to be released.
Key demands include a net monthly pay rise of $213 (€200) for all the employees at the park, higher pay for Sunday shifts and additional help with transport costs to the site, which is situated 20 miles (32 kilometres) east of Central Paris.
There are also complaints about a flexible hours scheme, allowing the park to change working hours to fit staffing needs at short notice.
Disneyland Paris management, which had been informed of the industrial action ahead of time by labor representatives, opted to keep the park open.
It issued a statement via its @Disneyland Help Twitter handle on Monday warning visitors that some of the park’s shows and activities were likely to be disrupted or cancelled by the strike but that the attractions and hotels would remain open.
Visitors to the park on Tuesday appeared to be split between solidarity for the Disneyland workers and dismay that their costly “trips of a lifetime” had been hit by the strike as they too took to social networks to document the protests.
Opened in 1992, Disneyland Paris is the only Disney resort in Europe and welcomes more than three million visitors a year.
Local media reports indicate that industrial action is rare at the park despite the fact many of its employees on are relatively low salaries.
Inflation, which is currently running at 5.1% in France having peaked at 6.2% in March, coupled with higher gasoline prices appear to be factors stoking the wings of discontent.
Employee representatives say that many resort workers are struggling to make ends meet in the current economic environment and cost of living crisis
They also point to the resort’s $51 million (€47 million) operating profit in 2022, achieved on the back of record $2.6 billion (€2.4 billion) revenue linked to the lifting of Covid-19 travel restrictions as well as the opening of Marvel-themed attractions.
Disneyland Paris President Natacha Rafalski was reported on Tuesday to have told employees that negotiations could not be opened until August and that the resort’s profits were not yet big or sustained enough to promise pay rises.
Disney’s French labor dispute follows hot on the heels of protests andhard-fought negotiations between the management at Orlando’s Walt Disney World and unions representing its 45,000 cast members.
Under a deal struck at the end of March, hourly cast member pay was set to rise from $15 to $17 for new recruits and $18 for existing staff members by the end of 2023, with promises that it would gradually be increased to $20 by 2026.