Disneyland To Lay Off an Additional 1,800 Cast Members
The night before Thanksgiving, it was revealed that Disney would be laying off nearly 4000 additional employees as a result of the continued impact that COVID-19 is having on theme park operations. According to a recent report in the Orange County Register it looks like 1,800 will be coming from Disneyland.
This is in addition to the 28,000 employees that Disney previously announced would be let go by the end of 2020 bringing the total up to a staggering 32,000 cast members.
Photo: Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Disney announced that there would be 1,797 furloughs of union and non-union employees due to the continuing business impacts of the pandemic as part of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act or (WARN Act.) Disney filed the WARN act notification ons November 12th. Furloughs are set to start on November 23rd and carry through until February of 2021.
If you’ve been following along with MickeyBlog you’ll know that the California theme parks have remained closed since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak this past Spring. Under guidelines set forth by the State of California, it is unlikely that we’ll see the theme parks reopen until late next Spring or Summer.
Disneyland was able however to bring back some of their employees with the reopening of their Downtown Disney shopping and dining district as well as reopening Buena Vista Street at Disney California Adventure for shopping and dining experiences only! However, all rides and attractions at both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure remain closed. Disneyland’s three onsite resorts also remain closed with the exception of the DVC Villas at Disney’s Grand Californian which will be welcoming some Vacation Club members this Holiday Season.
According to the OC Register, the furloughs will span a variety of jobs including landscapers, engineers, painters, plasterers, custodians as well as cast members working in entertainment, restaurants and attractions. 18 Disneyland firefighters are also being cut.
“We have provided impacted employees as much notice as practicable under the circumstances, as we had to act quickly after the state recently announced its unexpected reopening restrictions, which now make clear that we cannot reopen Disneyland Resort in the foreseeable future,” according to the WARN Act notification.
Photo: Disney
Last month, Ken Potrock, president at Disneyland revealed that executive, salaried and hourly workers were being impacted by cuts. At that time Potrock said, “Since Disneyland resort closed its gates in March, nothing has been more important than fully reopening and getting our cast members back to work,” Potrock wrote. “That’s why it is with heavy hearts we find ourselves in the untenable situation of having to institute additional furloughs for our executive, salaried and hourly cast.”
This is a story that we’ll continue to follow closely here at MickeyBlog. Readers are encouraged to keep checking in with us for further Disneyland and Walt Disney World news and updates.
Source: Orange County Register
