Workers in central Florida’s tourism industry are pushing to raise their minimum wage to at least $18 an hour, arguing that rising rents and inflation have cut into their ability to make ends meet.
Unite Here Local 737 released a report Thursday saying that an adult worker with no dependents would need to earn $18.19 an hour to make a living wage, while a family with two children would need both parents earning $23.91 an hour for a living wage.
Local 737 is part of a coalition of other unions currently negotiating a new, five-year contract for service workers at Walt Disney World, central Florida’s largest employer. Local 737 also is in the middle of contract negotiations with Sodexo, a food services and facilities management company, at the Orange County Convention Center.
In both cases, the union is proposing an $18 an hour minimum wage effective in the first year of the contract.
Disney World workers in 2018 approved a contract with service workers that raised the starting minimum wage to $15 an hour over three years while enabling Disney to use more part-time workers and require new workers to stay in their positions longer before transferring.
Local 737 said that although a wage of $15 an hour was enough three years ago, “with skyrocketing rent, food, and gas prices in the last three years, it’s no longer possible to survive with those wages.”
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