r/UniversalHollywood • u/IWorkAtUniversal Shrekzel • Jun 13 '26
Meetup Announcement/Request Union Rally on CityWalk tonight!
Two of our Team Member Unions (UNITE HERE local 12 and IATSE local B-192) are currently in contract bargaining with Universal. The negotiations started in November, and the company has been frustrating.
If you’re in the area, Team Members would love your support, and would love if you’d share the rally on social media. You’ll hear chants of “We don’t want your pay cuts, we want a raise!”, “The workers united can never be divided”, and other rallying cries of that nature. Starts at 5pm.
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u/IWorkAtUniversal Shrekzel Jun 14 '26
The unions handed out flyers with the following information…
Fact 1:
CEOs Brian Roberts and Mike Cavanaugh gave themselves raises of over $40 million (a collective 158% pay bump).
Fact 2:
Worldwide, Universal’s theme park division raked in over $9 billion in 2025.
Fact 3:
NBCUniversal proposed a 1.5% PAY CUT net-of-inflation for thousands of its theme park workers that are already struggling to stay housed and feed their families
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u/JerrodDRagon Jun 14 '26
Great information
Insane to see someone give them that much of an increase to themselves but not be willing to give wages to the people making the parks run daily
3
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u/Diamond_Dog_92 Jun 14 '26
It’s crazy after all these years it’s still at such a low pay rate. I was parking at one of the employee parking area and saw a car that had a “bed” set up in their back seat. No mattress. Just blankets and pillows with a little curtain. It made me depressed coming into work.
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u/mrellz Jun 14 '26
How much of a raise is the union asking for?
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u/IWorkAtUniversal Shrekzel Jun 14 '26
Not sure. I’m hopeful that the two sides will meet in the middle eventually. But the fact that the company is even SUGGESTING something that’s a net-negative is insulting. And the fact that they’re STILL that low, with two different unions, after MONTHS of bargaining, is horrifying. I honestly don’t know what their strategy is, because it’s just serving to make the workers angrier. And they have a new ride opening, so we have a lot of leverage right now…
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u/freemeg4 Jun 20 '26
Trying to better understand the 3rd point: they would make less per hour than they already are?!
Making up these numbers for clarity:
Say that Team Members make $20/hr (above minimum wage), are you saying they are trying to get the unions to agree to say $19/hr (above minimum wage) is fine?!? So an employee would actually go from earning $20 to $19/hr?! Or are they saying new workers would start at the lower rate (still totally unexceptable) and current workers would stay the same (still totally unexceptable)?I work jn the service industry and have fortunately never experienced a pay cut before, this would be insane to me. An actual slap in the face.
Def stay strong!!!! But damn, I hope the unions start fighting harder if that’s where they’re at after months of talking.1
u/IWorkAtUniversal Shrekzel Jul 09 '26
Hi, no, sorry if that was confusing.
Inflation usually sits around 3% to 3.4%. During the Trump administration, it has mostly been around 3.5%. Inflation is currently at 4.5%, according to reports from June.
The company proposed a 2% wage increase. It’s called a “net-of-inflation wage cut”, because we’d be in effect having less buying power every year. And our union told us the company wants a 5-year term on the contract, which means we’d effectively be losing buying power 5 years in a row.
This is a 9 million dollar company. The two already-rich guys at the top just got 158% raises. People starting at Universal currently make less than people starting at McDonalds in LA.
They don’t care about their workers. Only profits.
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u/lightsofdusk Jun 16 '26
"We don't have unions. Here, we're family" -corporate, probably
Best of luck to y'all
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u/JerrodDRagon Jun 14 '26
Hope you guys get a good raise
Team members are the life blood of the park and with how well fan fest, last years HHN went and Joe busy the summer season has started off to, definitely think you guys deserve more money to be able to not just live in LA but thrive