Disneyland, actors' union clash over parental leave, benefits as union negotiates first contract
A newly formed union for Disneyland's performers is in tense negotiations with Disney as employees struggle to get by in one of America's most expensive states.
Magic United, an affiliate of Actors' Equity representing 1,700 parade, show and character cast members at Disneyland, and Disney are in the midst of negotiations on a first contract, and they're telling Fox News Digital it's not going smoothly.
While most Disneyland employees have been represented by unions for decades, the Characters and Parades department remained nonunion until workers voted to organize in 2024 amid California’s cost-of-living crisis after the pandemic. This has led to negotiations between the newly formed union and Disney in order to negotiate a first contract both parties can agree on.
Because this is the workers' first union contract, both sides disagree over how to characterize Disney's proposals. Disney argues it is negotiating the initial terms of employment rather than eliminating existing union benefits. The union counters that workers currently receive benefits such as paid parental leave, so excluding them from the first contract would effectively mean employees lose those benefits.
The Los Angeles Times noted that, "Although the union said it has been getting movement on a number of health and safety issues, there are other points in contention, including the amount the company matches for employee contributions to their 401(k) retirement savings plans and a proposal that limits the number of times a worker can give away a shift without managerial approval."
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Fox News Digital contacted both parties about the ongoing negotiations, recalling founder Walt Disney’s famous anecdote about having founded the Disneyland park as a place where parents and their children can have fun together, asking whether Disney is fulfilling that mission as negotiations continue.
"Disneyland is often presented as ‘the ultimate family-friendly destination,’ but that’s no longer the case for 1,700 Cast Members in the Characters and Parades departments who create Disney magic by bringing beloved characters to life in shows, meet and greets and character dining experiences," a representative for the union responded.
"Disney has proposed eliminating paid parental leave for these workers and in the first year of a contract the company presented a zero percent wage increase – despite a period of high inflation. Orange County, California where Disneyland is located also is rated as one of the costliest places to live in the United States," the spokesperson added.
The representative claimed further that Disneyland "wants to eliminate paid parental leave, cut the number of paid holidays and size of401(k) contributions and make it unnecessarily harder for Character and Parade workers to swap shifts."
Al Vincent Jr., Actors’ Equity’s Executive Director, told the Los Angeles Times in a report about these negotiations, "When you propose to take away paid parental leave from those who work day in and day out to give other families great experiences, that’s not family friendly."
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Jessica Jakary, a Disneyland Resort spokesperson, has contested these claims, declaring to Fox News Digital, "Disneyland Resort values its cast members, offers competitive benefits and is proud of its long history of working collaboratively with the unions that represent them."
Disney as a company has stated that it is committed to ongoing negotiations with Magic United, noting to Fox News that there appears to be some confusion in the comparison to Walt Disney World in Florida where there are no state disability payments for parental leave like those provided for in California.
Disney has also said to Fox News Digital that it has not proposed to limit the ability to trade shifts, but instead the proposal only limits the number of times a cast member can give away a shift without managerial approval.
Disney also said that Disneyland Resort has proposed wage increases over the term of the agreement, and that while it is not offering an immediate wage increase, it has continued to provide annual increases to this bargaining unit as negotiations progress.
In one example provided, Disney claims that as of December 2025, full-time and part-time cast members in this bargaining unit have received a 4% increase.