Disney has furloughed 100,000 theme park and hotel workers, including popular cast members. Disney is widely considered the largest employer in the nation and this furlough is expected to save the company a reported $500 million a month. The furlough is centralized in Florida where over 70,000 workers have been furloughed. An employee furlough is when staff members are required to take an unpaid leave of absence. According to an NBC News article, “Some 26,000 of those workers are members of UNITE and thanks to an agreement worked out with Disney before the layoffs, they will be automatically be enrolled in the unemployment program, the union said in a statement.” UNITE is a labor union representing workers throughout the U.S. and Canada who work in the hotel, gaming, food service, airport, textile, manufacturing, distribution, laundry, and transportation industries.
UNITE has publicly criticized Florida’s unemployment system that has repeatedly crashed during the COVID-19 pandemic and “pays just $275-a-week for 12 weeks, which is among the lowest rates in the U.S.” Disney released a statement stating that “the COVID-19 pandemic is having a devastating impact on our world with untold suffering and loss and has required all of us to make sacrifices.” Disney confirms that COVID-19 has shut down most of their businesses, however they would not confirm the number of employees that have been furloughed. Though the furlough is temporary suspension of pay, it is having a substantial impact on Disney workers and their families all over our nation.
Discussion Questions:
- Explain the differences between employees that are terminated and employees that are furloughed. Discuss the impact of each scenario on the economy.
- Do government policies that make it more difficult for businesses to fire workers cause those businesses to more strongly consider whom they hire to positions in the first place? Explain.
Source: NBC News “100,000 Disney theme park, hotel workers furloughed” by Dylan Byers and Corky Siemaszko