Hundreds lose jobs as Disney World layoffs accelerate

Hundreds lose jobs as Disney World layoffs accelerate
Disney, which is Central Florida's largest employer with about 62,000 "cast members," refused to say Thursday how many jobs it has eliminated.
Jason Garcia

Orlando Sentinel ; ; March 26, 2009

; Walt Disney World has stepped up layoffs this week, as the company moves ahead with a broad, recession-forced restructuring of its management ranks.

Disney, which is Central Florida's largest employer, with about 62,000 "cast members," refused to say Thursday how many jobs it has eliminated. But one person familiar with some details of the cuts said he was given an estimate of 450.

The cuts have predominantly targeted salaried workers, rather than the hourly employees who make up the vast majority of the resort's work force. Employees say layoffs have occurred across Disney World's back-office functions, including entertainment, merchandise, finance, transportation, training, emergency management and theme-park operations.

Some workers who deal directly with guests have also been let go, including guest-service managers and managers in Disney Vacation Club's sales-preview center.

"It's property-wide," said Donna-Lynne Dalton, business agent for the Teamsters Local 385 union, which represents characters, laundry workers, parking attendants and ranch hands. She noted, however, that the job cuts have not affected unionized employees.

"I was told that they are going to be walking people out through Friday," she said. The Walt Disney Co.'s fiscal second quarter ends this week.

One former employee, who said he was laid off Wednesday after more than 10 years at Disney World, said he was personally familiar with about two dozen others who lost their jobs. Two others laid off this week said they personally knew about 20 others whose jobs were eliminated.

"We're not talking about one or two people. We're talking about 30 or 40 people in some areas," one of the laid-off employees said. All spoke on the condition they not be identified, for fear of losing their severance pay.

Some severance packages include one week's pay for every year with the company, which includes up to 60 days on paid administrative leave, during which the former employees can continue to receive benefits. An ex-employee said laid-off workers are also permitted to at least temporarily continue to purchase health insurance at company rates.

Disney announced last month that it would slash jobs across as its domestic resorts, as part of a sweeping reorganization aimed at combining functions between Disney World and Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif.

The layoffs follow voluntary buyouts that were offered to more than 600 park executives, including 313 in Orlando. Disney said recently that approximately 50 executives accepted the buyouts.

"We think these changes are essential to maintaining our leadership position in family tourism, and they reflect today's economic realities," Disney spokesman Mike Griffin said Thursday.

The layoffs and buyouts are part of deep cost cuts imposed across the Disney Co. in recent months, as the Burbank, Calif., media-and-entertainment giant suffers through the worst recession in decades. Company profit fell 32 percent during the first quarter, which ended Dec. 27.

Disney's theme parks are particularly vulnerable to downturns in consumer spending. The company has attempted to keep attendance afloat with deep discounts that are eroding profit margins.

Among those who have already departed or are scheduled to leave by the end of the month: Disney Cruise Line President Tom McAlpin, top chef and restaurant planner Dieter Hannig, and veteran spokesman Bill Warren.

The company has said it is trying to target cost cuts at its theme parks so that they do not hurt guests' experience. But one laid-off employee said the back-office cuts will inevitably affect front-line employees who deal directly with customers.

"The support from backstage to cast members affects that guest experience," he said. "They affect the cast member, the cast member's attitude, the cast member's ability to do their job."

Disney World has been laying off workers since last month. But former employees say the cuts accelerated this week and have been so widespread that one former worker described it as "a massacre."

The cuts could be timed to coincide with the end of the Disney Co.'s fiscal second quarter, which concludes Saturday. Disney will report its second-quarter earnings May 5.

 

Anyway we can find out about those at Disneyland in Cali?

 

I haven't heard directly of any cuts at DL.

The parks there are fairing much better in the current economic climate. ; DL is not so reliant on tourists traveling long distances. ; The lion's share of DL pilgrims come from within a day's drive of the parks.

If I find anything, I'll post it.

 

This has a little info regarding the impact at DL.

Walt Disney Co. cuts 1,400 jobs in Florida
Orlando Sentinel

April 4, 2009

The Walt Disney Co.'s domestic theme parks eliminated 1,900 jobs during the past six weeks — including 1,400 in Florida — the company acknowledged Friday.

The nationwide job losses included approximately 1,150 layoffs, 50 buyouts and the elimination of 700 open positions, the company said. The Florida cuts included 900 layoffs and buyouts and 500 vacant jobs that will go unfilled.

The vast majority of Disney's Florida work force is at Walt Disney World, though the company also slashed jobs at other operations in the area such as Disney Vacation Club and at a reservations center in Tampa.

It is the largest wave of job losses at Central Florida's largest employer since spring 2001, when Disney cut between 1,200 and 1,400 Orlando jobs. Disney said it had about 62,000 local employees before the latest round of cuts.

The non-Florida cuts included 200 layoffs and buyouts and 100 unfilled positions at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., and smaller reductions at offices in nearby Burbank and Glendale.

Disney said it began shedding the jobs Feb. 18, the same day it announced a sweeping restructuring of its U.S. parks-and-resorts division, aimed at consolidating operations between Disney World and Disneyland. The company has been squeezed by the deep global recession and forced to offer deep discounts to keep theme-park attendance afloat.

Disney said the cuts, which are mostly complete, targeted executive, management, professional and administrative positions. The company would not say how much it expects to save through the moves.

"These decisions were not made lightly but are essential to maintaining our leadership in family tourism and reflect today's economic realities," Disney spokesman Mike Griffin said. "We continue to work through our reorganization and manage our business based on demand."

Disney had for weeks refused to divulge the total numbers of layoffs, even as they spread across the company's vast operations. In Orlando, workers were let go in departments ranging from entertainment and transportation to finance and human resources.

The company did not file advance notice with the state about the job cuts. A federal law — known as the Worker Adjustment Retraining Notification Act, or WARN — typically requires employers who plan 500 or more layoffs to notify state officials at least 60 days ahead of time.

Disney said it was not obligated to do so because even the cuts at Disney World involved multiple sites and subsidiaries — none of which tripped the 500-person threshold. For example, Disney said each of its four theme parks at Disney World is considered a single site; the subsidiaries ranged from Disney Destinations to Disney Parks and Resorts Online.

The U.S. Department of Labor outlines a number of exemptions to the "single-site" rule. Noncontiguous sites in the same geographic area that do not share the same staff or "operational purpose" are not considered a single site; neither are contiguous buildings owned by the same employer — provided they have "separate management, produce different products and have separate work forces."

But the Labor Department says businesses are not supposed to use the single-site definition solely to evade WARN notices.

"I've seen it where buildings just a couple blocks away have been considered separate sites," said Tony Paris, a staff attorney with the Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice in Detroit. "Those issues are always litigated."

Disney said laid-off employees received severance packages that included 60 days of administrative leave, during which they continue to receive full benefits. The packages included payments based on length of service and position held.

The company also said it arranged job-placement services.

The cuts at Disney World have so far focused primarily on salaried employees, rather than the hourly workers who make up the bulk of the resort's work force. But during the 2001 recession — after layoffs and buyouts in its management ranks and after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks added to the economic downturn — the company imposed cuts on lower-level workers, as well.

Representatives for several of Disney World's unions said Friday that the company has not approached them about reducing hours or laying off workers so far this year. Eric Clinton, president of Unite Here! Local 362, which represents about 5,000 attraction workers, janitors and ticket takers, among others, said his union would fight any effort to impose across-the-board cuts in people's hours.

"People who make $8.50 an hour or less in some cases, on 32 hours, can't make ends meet," Clinton said.

 

Thanks!

Found out the person I was concerned about, wasn't part of the layoffs! ; Which was good news!