Please help to answer using this information:

Disney employees were excited to learn that

they would be getting a $

$1$

$,$

$0$

$0$

$0$

$$bonus after

the federal government lowered the tax rate

for major corporations. The Disney company

announced that it would give a portion of a $

$1$

$.$

$6$

billion tax windfall to

$1$

$2$

$5$

$,$

$0$

$0$

$0$

$$nonmanagement

workers. The excitement was short

$-$

lived, how

$-$

ever, for the company's union employees.

Disney officials threatened to withhold the

bonus unless members of the Service Trades

Council Union representing housekeepers,

kitchen staff, shop clerks, and other low

$-$

wageemployees ratified the company's latest con

$-$

tract offer. Ninety

$-$

three percent of the union

membership had previously rejected the con

$-$

tract proposal, which called for a

$5$

$0$

$-$

cent an

hour raise over two years with a $

$2$

$0$

$0$

$$bonus$.$

Union leaders cried foul, claiming that the

company was engaged in "extortion," punishing

members who had voted against the contract

proposal. The union representing employees

at Disneyland Resort filed a complaint under

the National Labor Relations Act, alleging that

Disney was withdrawing the bonus as a threat

against workers. For its part, Disney claimed

that the bonus should be included as part of

any settlement.

Those familiar with Disney's history shouldn't

be surprised by the latest labor unrest. In

$1$

$9$

$4$

$1$

$,$

Disney cartoonists and illustrators went on

strike, unionizing and asking for higher wages.

Walt and Roy Disney retaliated, threatening

workers and firing head animators. Later Walt

would use the House Un

$-$

American Activities

Committee as a platform to condemn the strik

$-$

ers as Communists. In

$2$

$0$

$0$

$8$

$,$

$$visitors to Disney

parks were greeted by union protesters dressed

as Snow White, Tinkerbell, and other Disney fig

$-$

ures holding picket signs. In

$2$

$0$

$1$

$7$

$,$

$$the company

was forced to pay

$1$

$6$

$,$

$0$

$0$

$0$

$$Florida employees $

$3$

$.$

$8$

million in back wages for illegally charging them

for costumes. Lawsuits by laid off technology

employees claim that Disney illegally replaced

them with foreign workers.

While labor conflict is nothing new to the

home of Mickey Mouse, recent negotiations were

particularly tense. That's because the company

took a hard

$-$

line stance even as corporate prof

$-$

its and executive salaries soared. Of the compa

$-$

ny

$\text{'}$

s recent $

$1$

$0$

$.$

$7$

$$billion profit, $

$2$

$.$

$2$

$$billion came

from its theme parks.

$($

Disney raised prices on

daily and multiday ticket packages to its prop

$-$

erties.

$)$

$$Disney CEO Robert lger made $

$4$

$3$

$.$

$9$

$$mil

$-$

lion, chief operating officer Tom Staggs received

$

$1$

$5$

$.$

$6$

$$million$,$ and chief financial officer Christine

McCarthy took home $

$1$

$0$

$.$

$2$

$$million$.$

In addition to holding public protests and

sponsoring a rally featuring Bernie Sanders,

union leaders commissioned a report by

researchers at Occidental College. The investi

$-$

gators found that most union employees have

been unable to keep up with soaring hous

$-$

ing costs in Orange County, California, where

Disney is the largest employer. Eighty

$-$

five

percent earn less than $

$1$

$2$

$$an hour, which puts

them below the poverty line for a family of four.

Many are homeless, living out of their cars or at

the homes of friends and relatives. Three quar

$-$

ters say that they do not earn enough to meet

basic expenses. Sixty percent said the food they

bought didn't last the month. According to the

authors of the report,

The Walt Disney Company promotes

Disneyland Resort as the "happiest

place on earth." But for many of the

approximately

$3$

$0$

$,$

$0$

$0$

$0$

$$people who

work there, it is not the happiest place

to work. Despite steep increases in the

cost of housing and other necessities,

Disneyland workers have suffered

steady pay cuts and are struggling to

make ends meet.

Spurred by the report's findings, Disney

labor leaders i

$.$

n Anaheim placed a "living wage"

initiative on the ballot, which proposed raising

the minimum wage to $

$1$

$5$

$$and then $

$1$

$8$

$$an hour

for hospitality companies receiving a city tax

subsidy. Disney settled with the Disney World

and Disneyland unions before the initiative

came to a vote. Disney boosted starting wages

to $

$1$

$5$

$$an hour at both theme parks and guaran

$-$

teed future raises over the life of the contract.

The living wage ballot measure then passed by

a comfortable margin. The head of the Anaheim

Chamber of Commerce called the ballot result

a "tragic outcome" that would drive away

future hospitality projects, costing jobs. A union

spokesperson called his claim "laughable."

$4.$ What role did the Occidental report play in

the union's success?

$5.$ Do you think Disney would have agreed to

meet union demands if it hadn't been for

the threat of the ballot initiative? Was this

an unfair negotiation tactic?

$6.$ Should all workers be guaranteed a "living

wage"? What impact would raising the

minimum wage have on business and the

economy?