32 costumed protesters were arrested on minor traffic and failure-to-obey violations outside a Disneyland resort hotel Thursday, causing quite a stir among passing park-goers. The protest was the 14th in six months that Unite Here Local 681 has staged against Disneyland. The protests center around the company?s newly proposed contract, which union members say makes health care unaffordable for many, creates an unfair tiered wage system, and reduces benefits for part-time workers, whom the company wishes to greatly increase in number. The union points to employees of other area hotels, and even other Disney employees, who are in much better financial shape. The company expresses disappointment in the union for disrupting resort life by protesting. Negotiations continue as the union fights for the health care they once received.
See "32 picketers arrested in protest outside Disneyland in hotel worker? labor dispute", Gillian Flaccus, Chicago Tribune, August 14, 2008