It’s no secret that Cast Members are the heart and soul of Disney World, and it takes a lot of Cast Members to keep Disney World running.

We’ve seen The Walt Disney Company and unions representing Cast Members have heated negotiations before, although all parties involved generally do come to agreements at some point. This is why many Cast Member groups end up voting to unionize to get unions to make demands for better pay and working conditions. Now, a union representing tipped workers at Disney World is making new demands on those workers’ behalf.

The Tipped Committee at Unite Here 737 union is demanding changes for servers, bartenders, and other tipped workers employed at Disney World. A demand letter was issued that stated that tipped workers are “dedicated professionals with decades of experience” and that they spend more time with guests than any other Cast Members in Disney World. The letter also mentioned how the career has taken a toll on their bodies and how “tipped jobs should provide a stable career that can support a family.”

The letter, which was signed by servers for Disney World restaurants like Be Our Guest, Nomad Lounge, Tony’s Town Square, Whispering Canyon Cafe, and many more, states that the future of tipped careers for both full-time and part-time Cats Members “is threatened by the Company’s decision to move in the direction of an over-staffed, Part-Time workforce.” The letter also states that they won’t wait until 2027 contract negotiations to make these demands.

The letter consists of many demands, including a guaranteed 20% gratuity on every guest check for all tipped workers, regardless of party size, with an additional tip line for customers who want to tip more. The letter also points out that Disney’s allergy process puts too much time, work, and risk on tipped workers and demands a clear and fair allergy process across all locations and zero reprimands for Cast Members when it’s out of their control. Specifically, the demand letter addressed the problem by calling Disney’s allergy process “Out of control. It puts too much time, work, and risk on tipped workers.”

The union also demands that part-time Cast members receive health insurance. There are also demands involving scheduling, suspensions and reinstatements, server assistants, and outsourcing food and beverage locations to third parties. There’s also a specific demand for bartenders to “negotiate a well-defined ratio of bartenders to available bar stools, ” as well as raising bartenders’ hourly pay to $19 per hour for all hours.

Other demands involve cocktail servers, while there’s a lengthy section about how Disney has shifted to having a majority of a part-time tipped workforce. According to the letter, 45% of tipped jobs were full-time in 2011, with 55% being part-time. In 2024, there are 34% full-time tipped workers vs. 63% part-time. The demands include keeping positions full-time when a full-time employee leaves that position, creating 300 more full-time tipped positions, guaranteeing at least three shifts per week for part-time workers, and implementing the “Schedule by Seniority” pilot in all locations.

We’ll keep an eye on the situation and keep you updated, so stay tuned to DFB for more.

The STRICT Dress Code Rule Disney World Cast Members Follow When They’re Off the Clock

 

The post NEWS: Disney World’s Union for Tipped Servers Demands Changes Amid “Out of Control” Policies first appeared on the disney food blog.