Disney World workers in Central Florida are battling with management for a new and improved union contract. In the process, they’re also trying to correct a gaping historical injustice.
Workers with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 631 say a major pay gap exists at Disney World that leaves workers in traditionally feminized jobs, such as costume-making, earning significantly less than workers in traditionally masculinized jobs with comparable skills levels, such as stagehand labor.
The union — which represents the skilled crafts people who work behind the scenes in Disney World entertainment, from costume workers to cosmetologists to stage technicians — is demanding in bargaining that Disney close this gender pay gap by raising wages in traditionally feminized jobs to bring them in alignment with comparatively skilled but traditionally male-dominated jobs.
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The union says that Disney’s own internal records attest to a significant gendered pay disparity between job classifications. According to the union, the jobs that earn less are also disproportionately held by older immigrant women from Vietnam, Latin America and the Caribbean.
“What we’re talking about is a mass undercompensation of skill and ability because the classification has been historically female,” said Paul Cox, president of IATSE Local 631. “This is work that should be appropriately...
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