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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) hosted a forum with labor groups and employees of the Disney corporation in California on Saturday and castigated one of the wealthiest and most powerful media companies in the world for showering its executives and investors with millions of dollars while lower-level workers continue with "poverty wages" that make it nearly impossible to make ends meet.
"We are talking about a company that has received huge tax breaks from the tax payers here in Anaheim, but in addition to that, received over $1 billion in tax breaks from Trump's tax giveaway to the wealthy," Sanders told the crowd Saturday morning at the event that took place near the company's iconic Disneyland theme park. "The time is now to have an economy that works for everyone, not just a handful of billionaires."
\u201c"We need to SHAME @Disney. I want to hear their moral justification that while making billions of dollars they have workers going hungry" @BernieSanders #stopdisneypoverty #PoorPeoplesCampaign\u201d— People for Bernie (@People for Bernie) 1527962015
Watch:
As local KLEW news channel notes, Disney is enjoying "a tax break of about $267 million over 20 years to build a luxury hotel at Disneyland where 85 percent of employees currently receive an hourly wage of less than $15.
According to the Commercial Observer, the event with Sanders follows "a widely publicized economic survey conducted by Occidental showed that a majority of Disneyland resort workers struggle to pay for basic living costs, including food, housing and healthcare. The survey, 'Working for the Mouse,' reported that 11 percent of Disneyland workers have been homeless in the last two years, 68 percent are food insecure and 36 percent report having to sacrifice necessities to pay monthly health insurance premiums."
Disney employees at the forum told their own stories of struggle and poverty even as they work for one of the most recognizable and profitable companies on Earth.
Another woman who works at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa explained to local news channel KTLA 5 that she has difficulty making ends meet on what she's paid. "I currently make $11 an hour," she said, but "I don't eat three meals a day on a regular basis, and when I can it's cans of tuna or carrots and celery sticks because they're cheap enough for me to be able to afford three meals a day that way."
\u201c"While working at #Disneyland I've been evicted twice, I live on one meal a day. I work in one of the most beautiful rooms, and I feed these guests the most beautiful food. At the end of the day it goes thrown out...we get fired if we eat any of it" #stopdisneypoverty #FightFor15\u201d— Fight for $15 LA (@Fight for $15 LA) 1527961387
\u201c"I go hungry most days" - Glynndana Shevlin, Disneyland worker w/@UNITEHERE11. #StopDisneyPoverty #RaiseTheWage\u201d— Good Jobs Nation (@Good Jobs Nation) 1527961800
Saturday's event also coincides with, the Observer added, "ongoing contract negotiations between the Big Mouse and employees and an announcement by a coalition of 11 labor unions representing Disneyland workers proclaiming that they collected the 21,000 signatures required to put a ballot measure before Anaheim voters this November that would require Walt Disney Co. and other large Anaheim employers that accept city subsidies to pay the resort workers a 'living wage.'"
\u201cWe are joining Disneyland workers today to say: If Disney can afford to pay its CEO up to $423 million, it can afford to pay all of its workers a living wage.\u201d— Bernie Sanders (@Bernie Sanders) 1527953223
Some of the Disney workers who attended the forum said their efforts to organize is about more than just fighting for themselves:
\u201cJessica and Ray are at the rally with @SenSanders because \u201ca lot of minorities are intimidated by fear of retaliation at work. We are here not only for ourselves but others who deserve respect on the job.\u201d #union #werise\u201d— SEIU (@SEIU) 1527957276
\u201cThe Happiest place on earth? It's not Disneyland #StopDisneyPoverty\u201d— Good Jobs Nation (@Good Jobs Nation) 1527764437
\u201cGetting ready to #stopDisneypoverty with @SenSanders\u201d— Good Jobs Nation (@Good Jobs Nation) 1527956601
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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) hosted a forum with labor groups and employees of the Disney corporation in California on Saturday and castigated one of the wealthiest and most powerful media companies in the world for showering its executives and investors with millions of dollars while lower-level workers continue with "poverty wages" that make it nearly impossible to make ends meet.
"We are talking about a company that has received huge tax breaks from the tax payers here in Anaheim, but in addition to that, received over $1 billion in tax breaks from Trump's tax giveaway to the wealthy," Sanders told the crowd Saturday morning at the event that took place near the company's iconic Disneyland theme park. "The time is now to have an economy that works for everyone, not just a handful of billionaires."
\u201c"We need to SHAME @Disney. I want to hear their moral justification that while making billions of dollars they have workers going hungry" @BernieSanders #stopdisneypoverty #PoorPeoplesCampaign\u201d— People for Bernie (@People for Bernie) 1527962015
Watch:
As local KLEW news channel notes, Disney is enjoying "a tax break of about $267 million over 20 years to build a luxury hotel at Disneyland where 85 percent of employees currently receive an hourly wage of less than $15.
According to the Commercial Observer, the event with Sanders follows "a widely publicized economic survey conducted by Occidental showed that a majority of Disneyland resort workers struggle to pay for basic living costs, including food, housing and healthcare. The survey, 'Working for the Mouse,' reported that 11 percent of Disneyland workers have been homeless in the last two years, 68 percent are food insecure and 36 percent report having to sacrifice necessities to pay monthly health insurance premiums."
Disney employees at the forum told their own stories of struggle and poverty even as they work for one of the most recognizable and profitable companies on Earth.
Another woman who works at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa explained to local news channel KTLA 5 that she has difficulty making ends meet on what she's paid. "I currently make $11 an hour," she said, but "I don't eat three meals a day on a regular basis, and when I can it's cans of tuna or carrots and celery sticks because they're cheap enough for me to be able to afford three meals a day that way."
\u201c"While working at #Disneyland I've been evicted twice, I live on one meal a day. I work in one of the most beautiful rooms, and I feed these guests the most beautiful food. At the end of the day it goes thrown out...we get fired if we eat any of it" #stopdisneypoverty #FightFor15\u201d— Fight for $15 LA (@Fight for $15 LA) 1527961387
\u201c"I go hungry most days" - Glynndana Shevlin, Disneyland worker w/@UNITEHERE11. #StopDisneyPoverty #RaiseTheWage\u201d— Good Jobs Nation (@Good Jobs Nation) 1527961800
Saturday's event also coincides with, the Observer added, "ongoing contract negotiations between the Big Mouse and employees and an announcement by a coalition of 11 labor unions representing Disneyland workers proclaiming that they collected the 21,000 signatures required to put a ballot measure before Anaheim voters this November that would require Walt Disney Co. and other large Anaheim employers that accept city subsidies to pay the resort workers a 'living wage.'"
\u201cWe are joining Disneyland workers today to say: If Disney can afford to pay its CEO up to $423 million, it can afford to pay all of its workers a living wage.\u201d— Bernie Sanders (@Bernie Sanders) 1527953223
Some of the Disney workers who attended the forum said their efforts to organize is about more than just fighting for themselves:
\u201cJessica and Ray are at the rally with @SenSanders because \u201ca lot of minorities are intimidated by fear of retaliation at work. We are here not only for ourselves but others who deserve respect on the job.\u201d #union #werise\u201d— SEIU (@SEIU) 1527957276
\u201cThe Happiest place on earth? It's not Disneyland #StopDisneyPoverty\u201d— Good Jobs Nation (@Good Jobs Nation) 1527764437
\u201cGetting ready to #stopDisneypoverty with @SenSanders\u201d— Good Jobs Nation (@Good Jobs Nation) 1527956601
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) hosted a forum with labor groups and employees of the Disney corporation in California on Saturday and castigated one of the wealthiest and most powerful media companies in the world for showering its executives and investors with millions of dollars while lower-level workers continue with "poverty wages" that make it nearly impossible to make ends meet.
"We are talking about a company that has received huge tax breaks from the tax payers here in Anaheim, but in addition to that, received over $1 billion in tax breaks from Trump's tax giveaway to the wealthy," Sanders told the crowd Saturday morning at the event that took place near the company's iconic Disneyland theme park. "The time is now to have an economy that works for everyone, not just a handful of billionaires."
\u201c"We need to SHAME @Disney. I want to hear their moral justification that while making billions of dollars they have workers going hungry" @BernieSanders #stopdisneypoverty #PoorPeoplesCampaign\u201d— People for Bernie (@People for Bernie) 1527962015
Watch:
As local KLEW news channel notes, Disney is enjoying "a tax break of about $267 million over 20 years to build a luxury hotel at Disneyland where 85 percent of employees currently receive an hourly wage of less than $15.
According to the Commercial Observer, the event with Sanders follows "a widely publicized economic survey conducted by Occidental showed that a majority of Disneyland resort workers struggle to pay for basic living costs, including food, housing and healthcare. The survey, 'Working for the Mouse,' reported that 11 percent of Disneyland workers have been homeless in the last two years, 68 percent are food insecure and 36 percent report having to sacrifice necessities to pay monthly health insurance premiums."
Disney employees at the forum told their own stories of struggle and poverty even as they work for one of the most recognizable and profitable companies on Earth.
Another woman who works at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa explained to local news channel KTLA 5 that she has difficulty making ends meet on what she's paid. "I currently make $11 an hour," she said, but "I don't eat three meals a day on a regular basis, and when I can it's cans of tuna or carrots and celery sticks because they're cheap enough for me to be able to afford three meals a day that way."
\u201c"While working at #Disneyland I've been evicted twice, I live on one meal a day. I work in one of the most beautiful rooms, and I feed these guests the most beautiful food. At the end of the day it goes thrown out...we get fired if we eat any of it" #stopdisneypoverty #FightFor15\u201d— Fight for $15 LA (@Fight for $15 LA) 1527961387
\u201c"I go hungry most days" - Glynndana Shevlin, Disneyland worker w/@UNITEHERE11. #StopDisneyPoverty #RaiseTheWage\u201d— Good Jobs Nation (@Good Jobs Nation) 1527961800
Saturday's event also coincides with, the Observer added, "ongoing contract negotiations between the Big Mouse and employees and an announcement by a coalition of 11 labor unions representing Disneyland workers proclaiming that they collected the 21,000 signatures required to put a ballot measure before Anaheim voters this November that would require Walt Disney Co. and other large Anaheim employers that accept city subsidies to pay the resort workers a 'living wage.'"
\u201cWe are joining Disneyland workers today to say: If Disney can afford to pay its CEO up to $423 million, it can afford to pay all of its workers a living wage.\u201d— Bernie Sanders (@Bernie Sanders) 1527953223
Some of the Disney workers who attended the forum said their efforts to organize is about more than just fighting for themselves:
\u201cJessica and Ray are at the rally with @SenSanders because \u201ca lot of minorities are intimidated by fear of retaliation at work. We are here not only for ourselves but others who deserve respect on the job.\u201d #union #werise\u201d— SEIU (@SEIU) 1527957276
\u201cThe Happiest place on earth? It's not Disneyland #StopDisneyPoverty\u201d— Good Jobs Nation (@Good Jobs Nation) 1527764437
\u201cGetting ready to #stopDisneypoverty with @SenSanders\u201d— Good Jobs Nation (@Good Jobs Nation) 1527956601