Universal raises hourly pay to $17 as it sets pace for parks

ORLANDO, Florida. Universal Orlando Resort Plans to Raise Starting Minimum Wage by $2 to $17 an Hour, Becoming the Wage Leader of Major Central Florida Theme Parks, Just as Out-of-Town Competitor Walt Disney World Is in Negotiations with Workers’ Unions service industries who are pushing for an increase in starting hourly wages from $15 to $18.

The new pay structure, which includes pay increases for other workers based on the new rates and their time with the company, goes into effect in June, Universal Orlando resort president and chief operating officer Karen Irvine said Tuesday in a letter to 25,000 resort workers. .

The initial hourly pay increase is part of a broader effort to improve employee benefits in a tight labor market, which includes increasing 401(k) benefits and tuition reimbursement, adding family leave, doubling the length of parental leave child and the modernization of behind-the-scenes activities. Worker areas such as rest rooms and bathrooms, the park said.

“But it doesn’t stop there, our culture is committed to forging a path forward that supports our team members, empowers them to grow, and instills a real sense of purpose and belonging,” Irvine said in the letter.

Universal Orlando is currently recruiting 2,500 staff across the resort. It is also gearing up for a new Epic Universe park to open in 2025. Resort workers are not unionized.

In the rival city of Walt Disney World, union members voted against a contract proposal covering 45,000 service workers earlier this month, saying it wasn’t enough to help workers face rising living costs for housing and other costs in central Florida. The company and unions plan to return to the negotiating table.

Disney World’s service workers, affiliated to the six unions that make up the Service Trades Council coalition, have demanded an increase in the starting minimum wage to at least $18 an hour in the first year of the contract, up from the starting minimum wage of $15 an hour. hour won in the previous contract.

The rejected proposal would raise the starting minimum wage to $20 an hour for all service workers by the last year of the five-year contract, which means a $1 increase per year for most workers it covers. Under the proposal, some positions, such as housekeepers, bus drivers, and cooks, start immediately with a minimum of $20.

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