I want to talk more about Florida today. I can usually find something in the state to discuss, given that Governor DeSantis (read: DeathSentence) has his mouth sewn to Donald Trump’s ass in the most twisted human centipede imaginable, and that is saying something. His canceling of added unemployment benefits recently is about to destroy a Florida city that was already on the edge prior to the pandemic.
Disney World has just announced that they are laying off 28,000 cast members over the next couple of days. 9,000 of these layoffs will be full-time members. A good majority of these people will be people who have been furloughed since the pandemic began, so they have already not been collecting paychecks since March. Many of them were collecting enhanced unemployment benefits, but those are at an end, because Governor DeathSentence ended them early, declaring that the state cannot afford them any longer.
Universal Studios Orlando has already gone through more than one round of layoffs affecting thousands of employees. Many of them have made careers at Universal that have lasted 20+ years. Let me also be clear, these are reported as layoffs as it is a nicer word, but all these individuals are being permanently separated from these places of employment. In other words, they are being fired.
Some would question why they are doing this. Most people do realize that there will be a Covid spike now that Governor DeathSentence has fully opened Florida back up again. Why not keep these people on paper so they can activate them as needed because theme park workers are going to get sick as well as everyone else in the state. Replacement workers will be needed.
The answer is far more sinister than you want to imagine. Seaworld is the third major theme park in Orlando. Like her sister parks, Seaworld furloughed, and then laid off, a good percentage of their workers. When it came time to bring them back, they required them all to re-apply/re-audition for their previous jobs. Being hired back meant a cut in pay as everyone brought on was technically a new hire.
I fully expect this to be the same game plan for Disney. Why do I think this? Prior to the announcement, Disney shut down an orchestra that played in the park for 37 years. It is common knowledge to theme park workers that the musicians union is more powerful than Disney itself. In order to terminate a musician at Disney, you have to shut down a show, make a minor change so it is a different show, and re-cast minus those musicians that they wanted gone.
I fully expect casting notices to go out for Disney within the next month (cast members are cast, not hired). Universal has put out some audition notices to replace laid-off entertainment employees. Whether this will be the case for non-entertainment employees at Universal has yet to be seen. The only given will be a cut in pay across the board.
Pay at the theme parks is already inadequate for their employees to make ends meet. There is more than one documentary, and an independent film, that detail how many theme park workers live week-to-week in cheap motels, and some even live in their cars in the parking lots of these parks.
Imagine how much worse it will be when pay is less than it is now? How many of these laid-off employees will be homeless within the next two to three months? There are no jobs in Florida to replace the jobs they have now lost and no enhanced unemployment.