The ugly truth about the Mouse

Apparently, Disneyland is not The Happiest Place on Earth.

Cinderella, Snow White, Tinkerbell and other fictional fixtures of modern-day childhood were handcuffed, frisked and loaded into police vans Thursday at the culmination of a labor protest that brought a touch of reality to the Happiest Place on Earth.

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At the heart of the issue is a free health care plan that has been provided to Disney hotel workers through a trust fund that Disney and other unionized hotels in the area pay into.

Briceno said that in exchange for the free medical plan, union members agreed in previous contracts to a lower wage for hotel workers in the first three years of their employment.

But Disney now wants to eliminate the free health plan for new hires and wants to create a new class of workers who put in less than 30 hours a week, said Briceno. Those part-time workers would receive no sick or vacation pay and not be given holidays, she said.

The company also wants to increase the number of hours full-time employees must work before qualifying for the health plan, she said.

We're talking about an amusement park that costs the average family of four (assuming 2 adults, 2 kids under 10) $256 for one day's admission. That's not to mention all of the money that Disney makes off of films, sales of film-related toys and merchandise, revenue from retail stores (Disney Store), hotels (Disneyland Hotel and others), television (ABC & ESPN) and other sources. And they're saying they can't afford to pay their workers? This is one of the wealthiest companies in the world. But I guess as with the Republican Party, the family values that Disney preaches apply to everyone except themselves and the riches only belong to corporate fat cats and not the workers who helped make the company what it is today.

Then, to make matters worse, the cold-hearted bastards went and arrested Cinderella, Tinkerbell, Snow White and other beloved characters in front of a bunch of kids. That had to look good for the corporate image.