Donald Duck, Elsa and Ariel unionize.
There is an air of mobilization in Disneyland, the amusement park in Anaheim, south of Los Angeles.
A group of 1,700 employees has announced their intention to join Actors' Equity, the umbrella organization that brings together approximately 51,000 live performers throughout the United States, from theater actors to comedians to some strippers who have joined in recent months.
Those who want to join the organization are the artists who dress up as the various characters from Mickey's house and who go around the park entertaining visitors with short shows, parades and photos with large and small fans.
The group, which has chosen the name 'Magic United' and has a white Mickey Mouse glove clenched in a fist as its logo, is calling for salary increases, greater transparency in shift scheduling and hiring.
The concerns of these workers had emerged following the Covid 19 pandemic: being the ones most in contact with the public, they denounced the lack of safety with which they were forced to practice.
"One of the precautions we want to insert is the certainty that costumes are sanitized when an artist dismounts and a colleague takes his place", explains Kate Shindle, president of Actor's Equity on the organization's website.
After years of meetings, the unionization machine started yesterday, when the cards for joining Equity were distributed.
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