Disney employees walk out over ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill silence
What actions must Disney take?
Why You Should Care
Florida has passed an anti-LGBTQ+ bill.
Now Disney is back in the headlines for its lacklustre response.
Find out how employees want Disney to do better.
Disney is back in hot water with its workers.
Employees working at Disney’s California HQ have walked-out over its silence following the passing of the ‘Parental Rights in Education’ (dubbed ‘Don’t Say Gay’) bill by the state’s Senate earlier in March. This bill would restrict the discussion of gender and sexuality in schools in Florida.
This full-scale walk-out came on the back of smaller walkouts during their breaks that urged the company to take a tougher stance against the bill.
Disney owns four theme parks and two water parks in Florida (which employ 80,000 workers), yet it was not one of 150 companies to sign a Human Rights Campaign letter opposing the legislation in the state.
It is unclear precisely how many workers have walked out, as many Disney HQ workers are still working remotely.
In a letter, Disney workers wrote: “The recent statements by The Walt Disney Company (TWDC) leadership regarding the Florida legislature’s recent “Don’t Say Gay” bill have utterly failed to match the magnitude of the threat to LGBTQIA+ safety represented by this legislation.
“Primarily, those statements have indicated that leadership still does not truly understand the impact this legislation is having not only on Cast Members in the state of Florida, but on all members of the LGBTQIA+ community in the company and beyond.”
The letter continues: “We stand in solidarity with our colleagues in Florida, who will be directly harmed by this new law and yet still required to perform their duties for a company that not only failed to prevent, but also tacitly funded it.
“This becomes especially concerning when you consider that TWDC is requiring even more employees to work and live in Florida, making even more Cast Members targets for this hateful law.”
Hundreds of Disney employees walking out at company HQ in Burbank #DisneyWalkout pic.twitter.com/n9QpNmAHIf
— Steve Desaulniers (@steve_desaul) March 22, 2022
What do employees want?
The walkout comes despite Disney CEO Bob Chapek speaking out, and pledging to make changes.
He said in mid-March: “It is clear that this is not just an issue about a bill in Florida, but instead yet another challenge to basic human rights. You needed me to be a stronger ally in the fight for equal rights and I let you down. I am sorry.”
“Starting immediately, we are increasing our support for advocacy groups to combat similar legislation in other states. We are hard at work creating a new framework for our political giving that will ensure our advocacy better reflects our values. And today, we are pausing all political donations in the state of Florida pending this review.”
While Disney employees “appreciated” Chapek’s “apology note”, they want more from the leadership team at Disney.
They called on Disney to go beyond pausing donations, and “indefinitely cease all campaign donations to these politicians involved in the creation or passage of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill” – this includes Florida Governor Rob DeSantis.
Beyond this, the workers want Chapek to be more specific about the advocacy support he promised. “TWDC must publicly commit to an actionable plan that protects employees from hateful legislation”, such as by stopping construction and investment in Florida until the legislation is repealed, and not move any employees to Florida locations.
The letter also called on Disney to “take responsibility for their inaction to protect the rights of LGBTQIA+ children and their families by making substantial contributions to The Trevor Project, Trans Life, and other human rights advocacy groups in an effort to regain our trust in the company’s inclusion and equality efforts.”
In a statement to the New York Times, Disney said: “We respect our colleagues’ right to express their views, and we pledge our ongoing support of the LGBTQ+ community in the fight for equal rights.”
Disney has also postponed a management retreat in order to listen and respond to employee demands. Further to this, Disney has now signed the Human Rights Campaign letter.
UNLEASH has reached out to Disney for comment but is yet to receive a response.
Can Disney find a way out of this mess and get its employees back to work? Stay tuned.
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Chief Reporter
Allie is an experienced business journalist and can be reached at alexandra@unleash.ai.
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