Starting in February 2019, Team Members working for minimum wage at Universal Orlando will see a pay increase to $12/Hour.
Tom Schroder, a Universal spokesman, states the decision was “long-planned”. Schroder wrote in an email, “Today’s announcement and the related adjustments we’ll be making means an increase in wages for thousands of our team members. As always, we will continue to review and adjust our rates so that we may stay competitive in the market.”
The pay increase was announced the same day that Disney union members held a higher wage rally near the Universal theme parks. President of the UNITE HERE Local 362 Union, Eric Clinton had this to say, “If the bigger two [Disney and Universal] do this, the others will have to follow suit. We think the entire hospitality industry should do this.”
Travis Claytor, spokesman for SeaWorld, has not said if SeaWorld plans to follow suit with minimum wage increases.
It has been shown that Disney has influenced pay increases for other companies in the past. Both SeaWorld and Universal Orlando raised their minimum wage to $9/Hour in 2014 after Disney and their unions agreed to a wage increase from $8/Hour to $10/Hour.
After tough negotiating on both sides for over a year, the unions and Disney reached an agreement to increase the minimum wage to $15/Hour in 2021 with an increase in pay starting at $11/Hour in December 2018, $13 in September of 2019, and reaching $15/Hour in October of 2021.
With both entertainment conglomerates expanding their parks, resorts, and hotels there will always be a healthy competition for good employees to work for them. These much needed pay increases will also help Team Members and Cast Members who live in the greater Orlando area with rising cost-of-living wages.
It is unknown if Loews Hotels, who manage the hotels located at Universal Orlando Resort, will follow Universal’s lead to raise wages.
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