UNITE HERE Local 737, which represents Walt Disney World food and beverage Cast Members among other workers, has issued a list of demands for improvements for tipped employees and requested a meeting with Disney regarding guest allergy concerns.

Walt Disney World Food & Beverage Union Releases List of Demands

The demands are for 4,000 tipped employees, including part-time and full-time workers, servers, server assistants, and bartenders. Local 737 states that tipped jobs should provide a stable career that can support a family and the future of tipped careers is threatened by Disney’s decision to move to an over-staffed part-time workforce.

They note that some of their demands are easier and quicker to achieve while others are harder and might take more time. But they won’t wait until contracts expire in 2027 to “demand what we deserve.”

The list includes 13 problems and suggested solutions, including:

Problem #1: 18% gratuity on parties of 6 or more is behind the times.

Solution: We deserve and demand a guaranteed 20% gratuity on every guest check — regardless of party size — with an additional tip line for guests who wish to tip more than 20%. This guaranteed 20% gratuity should apply to all tipped workers, including bartenders and cocktail servers.

Problem #5: Part-Time tipped workers have committed to this work as a profession, but it does not provide health insurance.

Solution: The Company should offer health insurance to all tipped Part-Time Cast Members. These jobs are our careers — and career jobs should provide health insurance.

Problem #6: Call-In Factor: Scheduling unnecessary staff results in tipped workers being sent home without pay.

Solution: When a tipped worker is sent home, pay them lost gratuities and charge tips in addition to lost wages. Change the contract to say that the Company may not offer Part-Timers non-tipped work.

The union also asks Disney to negotiate a “well-defined ratio” of workers on the schedule, stop outsourcing jobs to third-party companies, follow the Union contract’s normal transfer guidelines, and “grieve and arbitrate” unfair discipline when a guest walks out or complains when the worker is not at fault.

Problem #13 states Disney has shifted to a majority part-time tipped workforce. According to Local 737, 45 percent of tipped jobs were full-time and 55 percent were part-time in 2011. Now, 37 percent are full-time and 63 percent are part-time. This results in several issues:

a) Transfer opportunities have been reduced. When a Full-Timer leaves a location, the Company does not automatically replace them with another Full-Time position. Often the position is replaced with one or more Part-Time positions. This development minimizes the opportunity for Full-Timers to move around property or for Part-Timers to get promoted to Full-Time.

Solution: Guarantee that when a Full-Timer leaves, the position remains Full-Time.

b) The shift to a majority Part-Time workforce means that there are fewer paths for a Part-Timer to become Full-Time.

Solution: Create 300 more Full-Time tipped positions. Adding these jobs would re-create the 2011 ratio of Full-Time and Part-Time tipped positions.

c) When the Part-Time head count was lower, 3 days of work per week used to be dependable for Part-Timers. But now the Company has flooded many locations with extra Part-Timers. This means there are not enough shifts for Part-Timers in the location.

Solution: Guarantee 3 shifts per week for Part-Timers. This goal can be accomplished over a period of time by preventing Disney from continuing to hire large numbers of new tipped Part-Timers.

Solution: Implement the “Schedule by Seniority” pilot in all locations where the Part-Time members vote to negotiate this pilot with the Company.

The demands were signed by Cast Members from restaurants including Be Our Guest, Chef Mickey’s, Cinderella’s Royal Table, Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue, ‘Ohana, Tony’s Town Square Restaurant, Topolino’s Terrace, and more.

Local 737 is the same union that the “Ghosts” of Gideon’s Bakehouse are joining after reports of dangerous working conditions, poor wages, and discrimination.

Guest Allergy Process

Problem #2 in the list of demands regards allergy complaints. They state the allergy process is “out of control” and “puts too much time, work, and risk on tipped workers.” Local 737 asks Disney to introduce “a clear and fair allergy process that is consistent across all locations” with “[z]ero reprimands for issues beyond the tipped workers’ control or when the process successfully catches an error.”

They requested a meeting with Disney to further discuss the issue in a letter to Disney Labor Relations Senior Manager Autumn Badillo.

“We have many concerns about the lack of clarity and consistency in the guest allergy process,” Local 737 President Jeremy Haicken wrote. “Our concerns impact table service restaurants, quick service restaurants, bars, and lounges equally — including both the front and back of the house.”

We believe that the lack of clarity and consistency across locations can lead to both safety problems for guests and to unfair discipline of Cast Members. Our goal in meeting with you is to establish a fair and clear allergy process that is consistent across property. We suggest that the meeting includes not only Labor Relations but also people from the food and beverage line of business.

To prepare for the meeting, the union requests copies of all current written procedures and training materials for handling guest allergies, any guest-related written spiels or other instructions particular to a specific job location or classification, a list of all locations where special items are used to designate allergy meals, and all allergy-related reprimands issued to Cast Members in the past 12 months.

Heightened concerns about allergies at Disney restaurants come after a guest died due to an allergic reaction after dining at Raglan Road in Disney Springs. The late guest’s husband is suing Disney and Raglan Road. Though Disney does not own or operate the restaurant, the lawsuit notes they “had control and/or right of control over the menu of food offered, the hiring and/or training of the wait staff, and the policies and procedures as it pertains to food allergies” at Disney Springs.

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