The Unsa Disney union denounced Thursday the dismissal procedures, initiated by the management of the Disneyland Paris amusement park, against five employees who had participated in the demonstrations, in May and June, carried out to demand salary increases. “The management reproaches them for the abusive occupation of a place (…) which resulted in the cancellation of shows and financial damage, since some visitors were unhappy and the company had to reimburse them”, has told AFP a representative of Unsa Disney who requested anonymity.
On May 30, a thousand employees, supported by the CGT, the Unsa or the CNT-SO, had gone on strike within the park to demand a salary increase of 200 euros and double payment for Sundays worked. According to Unsa Disney, management also accuses the employees targeted by the dismissal procedures of damaging “the image of the company”. “The very essence of a strike is to talk about the image of the company,” protested the same union official, speaking anonymously. “It’s absurd because we are on French soil, not on the other side of the ocean in the United States,” he adds.
Contacted by AFP, the management of Disneyland Paris only succinctly indicated its choice not to communicate on these dismissal procedures. “In order to preserve the rights of our employees and those of the company, we do not comment on internal procedures,” management replied. While negotiations on wages and working conditions are scheduled for September, Unsa Disney believes that “management wants to silence and intimidate the next strikers.”
Two of the five employees subject to a dismissal procedure are UNSA staff representatives. Several left-wing political parties and environmentalists in Seine-et-Marne, where the Disneyland Paris park is located, expressed their support for trade union actions “to defend the right to strike”, through a press release published on Monday. “The management must renounce repression and respond favorably to the demands of the staff”, can we read in the document which the parties Europe Ecology the Greens, LFI and the PCF 77 signed in particular.