FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

News

Some Disneyland employees are facing homelessness working at "The Happiest Place On Earth"

Disneyland is supposed to be the happiest place on Earth. But for the people who work there, it’s not so simple.

ANAHEIM, California — Low-wage workers are being priced out of Orange County, the posh suburbs south of Los Angeles. That’s especially true in the city of Anaheim, and its largest employer: Disney.

The unions representing Disney’s lowest-paid workers have banded with other unions in Anaheim to put a measure on the ballot: a new minimum wage for the hotel and restaurant workers at the city's largest resorts that would pay $15 an hour by 2019, and gradually increase to $18 an hour by 2022. (California’s minimum wage is set to increase to $15 an hour in 2021.) Raises thereafter would be at least two percent per year.

The push for a ballot measure has drawn both the ire of the city and Disney itself, which is co-funding the group pushing against the measure under the subtle name "No To The Anaheim Job Killer Initiative."

Anaheim Chamber of Commerce President Todd Ament said the measure, if enacted, would drive off future investment and kill two luxury hotel project planned for Anaheim.

But Disney workers say they can’t live in Anaheim — or most places in Orange County — while earning less than $15 per hour.

This segment originally aired May 10, 2018 on VICE News Tonight on HBO.