Unions have reached a deal with Disney to increase the minimum wage for Walt Disney World Resort workers to US$15 an hour, ending contract negotiations that have dragged on for nearly a year.
The deal will gradually raise wages to US$13 an hour by next year and then to US$15 by the end of 2021. The current minimum wage in Florida is US$8.25. The deal is expected to have a knock-on effect on pay elsewhere in the state.
"If I’m working for US$8.25 at wherever, and I’m using similar-type skills, then I’m going across the street to Disney World looking for a job that guarantees me higher pay and raises," Sylvia Allegretto, economist and co-chair at the Center on Wage & Employment Dynamics at the University of California Berkeley, told the Tampa Bay Times.
"That creates competition for workers, and other businesses are going to have to respond to avoid losing their best workers and getting into problems with turnover."
Even before Disney’s deal with workers, attorney John Morgan was toying with the idea of a minimum wage constitutional amendment on the 2020 ballot. The preliminary plan would raise the state’s minimum wage to US$10 in 2021 with annual US$1 increases taking this up to US$15 in 2026. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the percentage of workers below minimum wage in Florida is the second-lowest in the US.
St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman pushed for a US$15 minimum wage for city workers by 2020, and has boosted the current rate to US$14.25.
"Aside from being the right thing to do for our workers, we thought that it was good business, too," he said. "So, yeah, it’s nice to see an employer like Disney recognise that. I certainly hope the private business community says, ‘We’ve got to take a look at what Disney is doing here’."
Source: Tampa Bay Times
Unions have reached a deal with Disney to increase the minimum wage for Walt Disney World Resort workers to US$15 an hour, ending contract negotiations that have dragged on for nearly a year.
The deal will gradually raise wages to US$13 an hour by next year and then to US$15 by the end of 2021. The current minimum wage in Florida is US$8.25. The deal is expected to have a knock-on effect on pay elsewhere in the state.
"If I’m working for US$8.25 at wherever, and I’m using similar-type skills, then I’m going across the street to Disney World looking for a job that guarantees me higher pay and raises," Sylvia Allegretto, economist and co-chair at the Center on Wage & Employment Dynamics at the University of California Berkeley, told the Tampa Bay Times.
"That creates competition for workers, and other businesses are going to have to respond to avoid losing their best workers and getting into problems with turnover."
Even before Disney’s deal with workers, attorney John Morgan was toying with the idea of a minimum wage constitutional amendment on the 2020 ballot. The preliminary plan would raise the state’s minimum wage to US$10 in 2021 with annual US$1 increases taking this up to US$15 in 2026. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the percentage of workers below minimum wage in Florida is the second-lowest in the US.
St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman pushed for a US$15 minimum wage for city workers by 2020, and has boosted the current rate to US$14.25.
"Aside from being the right thing to do for our workers, we thought that it was good business, too," he said. "So, yeah, it’s nice to see an employer like Disney recognise that. I certainly hope the private business community says, ‘We’ve got to take a look at what Disney is doing here’."
Source: Tampa Bay Times
