Disney To Layoff 28K Employees Amid Pandemic
Disney is laying off 28,000 employees in its parks, consumer products and experiences division. According to the company, the layoffs are the result of the prolonged shutdown in California and limited attendance at open parks elsewhere.
Disney Head of Parks Josh D’Amaro sent a letter to the employees, giving them great detail of the company’s difficult decisions in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which included terminating the furlough thousands of its employees.
D’Amaro said 67 percent of its 28,000 workers were actually part-timers. There was no word on which parks would see the layoffs or how many at each one.
Disney has theme parks in Florida, Hong Kong, Japan, Paris and Shanghai, which have been operating at limited capacity. However, Disneyland and California Adventure have remained shut down in California.
D’Amaro told the employees the decision was not taken lightly. The management had been working nonstop to avoid this scenario, cutting expenses, furloughing cast members while paying benefits, suspended capital projects and alter operations so things would run smoothly. D’Amaro said this was not the time for the company to remain fully staffed with operations at limited capacity.
Since the outbreak started, Disney has been losing money. During the second quarter, the company lost nearly $1 billion because of park, cruise lines and hotel closures. In the third quarter, the company lost even more money – $3.5 billion.
D’Amaro, along with his team, has been in talks with California state legislators for guidelines that would allow them to open parks again. The company submitted a media update to show how successful they have been in its Florida, Japan, Paris and Shanghai parks. The update included the safety measure currently in place, such as requiring masks, widely-available sanitation stations, cashless pay and online mobile ordering.
However, D’Amaro said, the state has held fast in its stance to keep Disneyland closed.
In August, Gov. Gavin Newsom provided a four-tier reopening guideline to ease restrictions on businesses in the state, but it depended on the level of coronavirus spread in each county.
Disneyland is located in Orange County, and Gov. Newsom said the county is seeing a 4.4 per 100,000 new cases of COVID-19, keeping the reopenings from happening.
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Posted by News
on Oct 2 2020. Filed under Business, Entertainment, Featured.
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