“We feel like there’s always somebody else that will fill our spot,” Disneyland cast member Gabriel Sarracino told SFGATE, “and we’re just there.” Sarracino has worked at the Disneyland Hotel for 15 years as a valet, parking cars and assisting guests with their luggage. For all of those 15 years, he’s earned minimum wage from Disney and supplemented his income with tips. But a recent decision from leadership that prevents valets from handling luggage has cut substantially into his earnings. He’s now one of the 25,000 cast members, as Disneyland calls its employees, who are participating in the class action lawsuit against Disneyland that alleges the company is legally obligated to pay a living wage. Sarracino considers himself fortunate that his wife and two young children are getting by in affordable housing, but not every cast member at Disneyland can claim the same. In fact, according to a survey of 5,000 cast members, many are experiencing difficult living conditions because of low pay. “Working for the Mouse,” a study by Occidental College and the Economic Roundtable published in February 2018, found that 11% of Disneyland employees reported experiencing homelessness in the previous two years, 68% were food insecure and 73% said they do not earn enough for basic living expenses. While many employees said they would like to take on second jobs, Disneyland often schedules most workers different hours every week, preventing them from doing so. Other cast members sleep in their cars, or make two-hour drives each way to sleep at relatives’ homes or experience food insecurity, the New York Times found shortly after the survey was released. That may have all happened three years ago, but the time between then and now, including a pandemic and a surging real estate market, has not been kind to low-income earners. In 2020, the Orange County Food Bank distributed an average of 6 million pounds of food monthly — roughly three times their previous monthly distribution high.
