Fired Disney workers are fired up.
Back in June, three performers at Disney’s Animal Kingdom were fired from “The Festival of the Lion King Show.”
Those performers said their unitards were soiled by other workers’ sweaty costumes and refused to wear them.
Now their union representative is speaking on their behalf and sharing exclusive photos from behind the scenes.
The Teamsters Union representing the three men has already been through the grievance process and will now go forward to present their case to a federal arbitrator, unless Disney meets their demands.
“The Festival of the Lion King” is a popular high-energy live musical that that involves singing, dancing and acrobatics. At each show, performers said they sweat through their unitards and accessories.
According to witness testimony and photographs documented in a grievance, dirty costumes caught outside in the rain had to be brought inside the dressing room on June 10. When it was time to prepare for the 6 p.m. show, four performers found the soiled costumes were pushed up against their clean clothes.
“They went to management and said we need new unitards. These need to be washed, something,” Donna-Lynne Dalton of the Teamsters Local 382 said.
The Teamsters Union said management wanted them to wear the soiled costumes and make it work for the sake of the show.
“These cannot be worn,” Dalton said. “Somebody else has sweat on them and they need clean unitards.”
Three of those performers told their union they refused to wear them because it was unsanitary. Management then canceled the show.
“The company did get clean unitards and they did the next show after that,” Dalton said.
But the damage was already done. Dalton said those three cast members were suspended and then fired.
They each had worked as full-time Disney performers for three to four years. Since being terminated, their union said they have struggled to find full-time work with health insurance.
“It could have been corrected,” Dalton said. “Never had to come to this.”
The Teamsters Union showed News 13 a copy of the Character Addendum that states, “all costume pieces shall receive a minimum of (12) hours of drying and sanitation between performances… no character performer shall be required to wear any costume piece worn by another Character Performer.”
We asked our medical expert, Dr. Timothy Hendrix, to get his take on the sweaty situation.
“Generally, it’s a very, very low risk of transmission of any type of infection from sweat,” Hendrix said.
Regardless, the three men said they want their jobs back and are seeking back pay from Disney. But all of that will now be up to an arbitrator to decide.
The three performers, the Teamsters Union and Disney will all go before an arbitrator Dec. 18, unless a settlement can be reached first. The union tells News 13 that Disney did make an offer, but it was not acceptable.
We also reached out to Disney to hear their side. They told News 13 they disagree with the assertions and will share their case with an arbitrator.