MEDIA ADVISORY FOR: Wednesday, March 11, 2020 – 9:00 am ET

Contact: Anna Zuccaro | anna(at)unbendablemedia.com

WEDS 9AM: Investor Letter, Mass Public Self Defense Action to Highlight Investor Liability from Subminimum Wages for Disney’s Tipped Workers At Annual Disney Shareholder Meeting

Following investor Letter to Disney on Shareholder Liability Arising from Subminimum Wages at Disney Theme parks, One Fair Wage Coalition, One Billion Rising, Fight for $15 North Carolina, North Carolina Justice Center, & Black Workers Center spearhead Women Workers Rising Action in Support of Subminimum Wage Disney Workers

RALEIGH, NC — On Wednesday, March 11th, Disney workers and allies will gather at the Disney Shareholder meeting in Raleigh, NC to stage a mass public self-defense training to raise awareness of the sexual harassment and economic insecurity resulting from the tipped subminimum wage for restaurant workers, and to demand that Disney pay its tipped workers a $15 minimum wage.

Disney employs approximately 4,000 tipped workers in its Orlando theme parks who earn a subminimum wage of $5.55 an hour. Recent research indicates that the tipped subminimum wage is the greatest source of sexual harassment for this mostly female restaurant workforce, as these workers must tolerate inappropriate customer behavior in order to feed their families in tips. As the largest media conglomerate in the world, Disney also leads the National Restaurant Association in lobbying to keep the federal minimum wage for tipped workers at $2.13, forcing the mostly female restaurant workforce in North Carolina and nationwide to tolerate the highest levels of sexual harassment of any industry. 

The action will take place on the heels of a letter sent to Susan E. Arnold, Lead Director of the Disney Corporation by Disney investors, urging Disney’s Board Members to discuss shareholder liability arising from the sexual harassment and economic instability as a result of the sub minimum wage for tipped workers, which pose serious risks to the company’s brand and customer loyalty.

WHAT: INVESTOR LETTER & MASS PUBLIC SELF-DEFENSE ACTION BY DISNEY WORKERS & ALLIES AT DISNEY SHAREHOLDER MEETING
WHEN: Wednesday, March 11, 2020, 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM ET
WHERE: Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 East South Street, Raleigh, NC 27601
FEATURED PARTICIPANTS INCLUDE: Representatives from One Fair Wage, One Billion Rising, Fight for $15 North Carolina, North Carolina Justice Center, & the Black Workers Center will join Disney workers to argue that as long as workers need to rely on tips to feed their families, they will need to learn to defend themselves from sexual violence at work.

One Fair Wage President Saru Jayaraman explained: “Disney continues to pay its hard working employees a sub-minimum tipped wage at its Orlando parks, risking a backlash from customers and stakeholders and directly exposing their workforce to dangerous sexual harassment practices. Why has Disney continued this high-risk practice in Orlando while at the same time, Disney’s California parks have succeeded without paying its tipped workers a subminimum wage? We are at the Disney shareholder meeting today to urge Disney to do the right thing in Orlando and lift thousands of workers out of poverty and end sexual harassment in the restaurant industry.”

Eve Ensler of One Billion Rising added: “We are rising on March 11 to honor and protect tipped workers and to demand that they receive one fair wage that they so richly deserve and which will help protect them from sexual abuse on the job. Our Women Workers Rising action in Raleigh joins the thousands of One Billion Rising creative resistance actions taking place throughout the US and the world, where women are rising up on the stage, in the streets, and in front of government offices, to demand changes in the policies and culture that sustain violence and inequality. We will rise until the violence stops.” 

A new liability for Disney shareholders has also arisen this week in regard to the subminimum wage it pays its workers in Orlando theme parks. Public health doctors and academics released a white paper indicating the public health risk of the subminimum wage for tipped workers. The white paper indicates that 70% of foodborne illness can be traced back to sick restaurant workers, and that the subminimum wage for tipped workers forces them to go to work to get tips. The white paper argues that One Fair Wage as necessary to implement in addition to paid sick days in order to allow workers to stay home when sick.

VIEW THE WHITE PAPER HERE: http://bit.ly/Coronavirus_RestaurantIndustry

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