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THREAD: Glad you are doing this @Disney @DisneyStudios @DisneyParks @WaltDisneyCo Here is why every time you talk about it, usually right after I talk about wages, you think you are answering my concerns but you are actually asserting an incredibly infuriating non sequitur 1/
Education is great. What part of "Yes... AND" do you not understand? Workers who are barely making ends meet at $15/hour, however, might be wanting something more immediate, like money. That's what they've been asking--nay, fighting--you for for years. And I'm not even 2/
Talking about your tipped workers, like the 32 year employee I just met who is making $10.50/hour plus tips (do you know that the federal minimum for tipped workers is $2.13/hour and hasn't changed in decades? Do you know how that minimum is opening women up to harassment 3/
And abuse? Do you know the practice of tipping arises from slavery? Do you know that the "other NRA" the National Restaurant Association has been fighting hard to keep us from talking about how these low tipped wages are basically guaranteeing a permanent 4/
Underclass of mostly women who will never be not exhausted, not exploited and not beaten down long enough to take advantage of any kind of education program no matter how high quality? But again, I digress) Your hourly workers might love working for Disney and might 5/
Be willing to take a lot of abuse and condescension at your hands, but come on. How hard is this to understand? If you educate people so as to be in a position to "ascend" to better paying jobs, you imply that the jobs at the bottom will always be poorly paid. 6/
You treat that as a given. But we all well know that a day on your feet cleaning rooms, scraping gum off sidewalks or dusting off audioanimatronic children, no matter how much you love it, is exhausting, draining, and demoralizing. Could you do it? WOULD you do it? 7/
Would you even consider running a hotel or a park without that work having been done, and done well? So you have some essential people, doing essential work, work that is pivotal to the achievement of rising share prices and pricy compensation packages and they are 8/
Telling you over and over that they cannot make ends meet on the wage you are paying them. And your answer to them is "Here, go take this education instead of money for your labor, and if you use it at the cost of great stress to yourselves and your families, we might 9/
eventually, out of the goodness of our hearts, treat you to a slightly "better" job and then, and ONLY THEN, you will give them more money." Do you see why this feels like a slap in the face to your janitors and housekeepers and all your other hourly workers? 10/
THEY ARE DOING A JOB YOU WOULD NEVER YOURSELF DO!!!! And you can't run your business without them. And yet your are comfortable knowing that they go home to decrepit housing stock, and send their kids to terrible schools, and know they'll never save enough for retirement 11/
and that god forbid they have a medical emergency they will be wiped out. Are you really comfortable knowing this? Yes, education is nice. But is compensation deferred. It is extra work today on the vague promise of more money tomorrow. But people who ration insulin 12/
need money today. And they worked today. At something you value. So go ahead and educate them, but first, and foremost, PAY THEM. That's all. Just pay them what they've earned. Then we can talk about education. No human being, young or old, immigrant or citizen 13/
Should be working full time in a land as wealthy as ours and still be unable to afford food, housing, education and healthcare. So yay ASPIRE!! AND... note the word AND here, because we can hold two contradictory ideas in our heads at the same time, I hope, AND 14/
Shame on you. PAY THEM. I have no problem with monstrous compensation, even though personally I would feel awkward feeling deserving of what amounts to a $22,000/hour, because I cannot imagine what I could possibly be doing in an hour that would be worth that kind 15/
of money, and because my life experience has shown me that there is such a thing as too much money and it sows more grief and cruelty than joy and light, but that's just me, I know, but you cannot, from a moral perspective justify taking 8 and 9 figure bonuses while 16/
at the same time spreading chicken feed along the road behind you for the peasants to scramble for. Shame on you. The company has never been more profitable. It can lead. We need visionary corporate leaders who will step into this new age with honor and decency. 17/
Something I worry our political leaders will never again be able to do. LEAD. Why not? Leave a legacy you can be proud of. Who cares what the analysts have to say about it. You have far more power than they do. Break with orthodoxy and PAY THEM FAIRLY. 18/
While we're at it @NickHanauer has written a brilliant piece about what he calls "educationism" which is the misguided belief that what poor people need is education not money. Have a look. It's very good. And then just pay your workers what they've earned. 19/
It's not that hard. END/
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