They might just be the happiest people on Earth. Nearly 45,000 unionized Disney employees will soon see a bump in pay that they say is sorely needed.


What You Need To Know


“Usually I went home like my face is sad, but yesterday? I say, yes! We win! And my kids were so happy to hear it,” said Vilane Raphael, a housekeeper at Disney World’s Saratoga Springs. “It's everything. All my happiness is out.”

It was a long fight to a better wage for Raphael, who knows what it means to put in the work.

“Sometimes. I struggle a lot,” she said. “When I tell you...spring break? We work in the Vacation Club. Those rooms are so dirty. Sometimes I open the room and I start crying. Trash all over," Raphael recalled. "But I still have to do my job”

It hit even harder when she would go home and still struggle to put food on the table.

“I have my mom, my sister, my son, my daughter. I have a lot on my plates, and I have family in Haiti. It's not good over there," she said. "I feel I don't even have money to take care of my family here.”

That's why an extra three bucks per hour coming by the end of the year, and more over the coming years means the world.

“I got the raise," Raphael exclaimed. "And the funny part, I cry because we've been waiting for so long and then I finally got it.”

The cast members are a team and they worked hard to make sure everyone got what they deserved.

“To see the big smile on [my coworker's] face...They're so happy and they're ready to vote yes, to get it done as soon as possible,” said Raphael.

For her, next Wednesday’s vote on the agreement couldn’t come fast enough.

“Now we can go to the store and then we buy what we want, and then my money? I'm going to vacation, take my kids to vacation,” Raphael said.

If approved, every worker under the agreement would see a raise between $5.50 and $8.60 by the end of their contact. It also provides eight weeks of paid Child Bonding Leave.