Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke out Saturday against wealthy corporations that don't pay their workers a "living wage."
Emphasizing the themes he relied on during his unsuccessful 2016 presidential campaign, Sanders told a crowd at an Anaheim church that Walt Disney Co. should share its financial success with its employees.
"The struggle that you are waging here in Anaheim is not just for you," he said. "It is a struggle for millions of workers all across this country who are sick and tired of working longer hours for lower wages."
Sanders, I-Vt., was accompanied on stage by members of a coalition of unions that has collected about 21,000 signatures, seeking to qualify a measure for the November municipal ballot that would require large employers accepting city subsidies to pay at least $15 an hour.
To qualify for the ballot, the unions needed to collect the signatures of 10 percent, or 13,150, of the voters in Anaheim. The Orange County Registrar of Voters has until June 14 to verify the signatures.
If adopted, the measure would require that workers be paid a minimum of $15 an hour starting Jan. 1, 2019, with salaries rising $1 an hour every Jan. 1 through 2022. Once the wages reach $18 an hour, annual raises would be tied to the cost of living.
During the rally for union workers, several Disneyland employees joined Sanders onstage to discuss their struggles to make ends meet on theme-park salaries.
Grace Torres and her husband, Edgar Campista, of Garden Grove, said they both work at the resort but can't afford to start a family.
"Disney prides itself on making dreams come true," Torres said. "Disney, where is my dream?"
Opponents of the measure, including the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce and the Disneyland Resort, say the higher salaries would increase the cost of doing business and scare off development.
The Disneyland Resort announced last week that it has previously offered a 36 percent pay increase to about 9,500 resort workers over three years. The union has been negotiating with the resort since March.
The pay increase offered by Disney would give staffers who work in stores, attractions, custodial, costuming, parking, transportation and other fields a minimum of $15 an hour by 2020 _ a year after the ballot measure would reach that level.
But the Masters Services Joint Council, which represents the workers, described the Disney raise offer as a "first step, but it is not enough." In a statement released last week, the council said the Disney offer also threatens to cut "fringe benefits that have been long standing traditions at the park."
The offer by the Disneyland Resort does not affect salary negotiations with hotel workers who also attended Saturday's rally.
To justify the pay increase, the Disney workers have pointed to a study released in February that found 73 percent of Disney employees who were questioned said they don't earn enough to pay for such basic expenses as rent, food and gas.
The study concluded that the average wage for Disneyland Resort workers when adjusted for inflation dropped 15 percent from 2000 to 2017, from $15.80 to $13.36.
Disney officials rejected the study, calling it flawed.
