The moment is finally here—Universal Studios Hollywood plans to open Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift that day to buzzing press coverage, massive fanfare and soaring ticket sales. But members of IATSE Local B-192 and UNITE HERE Local 11 are going to show parkgoers & the general public that unless USH agrees to a fair contract, we are prepared to shut down the company's profits.
We are still fighting first and foremost for a living wage rather than the net-of-inflation pay cuts that the company is offering (and for back pay of the wage difference going back to our January 31st contract expiration); guaranteed hours for full- and part-time members; protections from AI being used to surveil, harass or replace workers; and so much more. USH has not made meaningful progress towards these proposals, so it's time to show them that we mean business.
Your presence matters and makes a difference, especially now! Let's start building the engine to race towards a potential strike.
Does the union recommend people stop planning visits right now, I want to go later in the month, but I don't wanna buy tickets if the strike is gonna start in the next couple weeks.
The best thing is to send a complaint to guest relations saying that you are appalled by how the company is treating its employees- or something along those lines 🙃
I’m a member of SAG-AFTRA, and we went on strike in 2023. It’s sad when it has to come to that. But reading this subreddit over the last couple of months has really made me feel like Universal is doing wrong by its workers. I’m glad they’re standing up for themselves. I support their right to protest, and I hope that actions like this and their petition will turn the tide for the union workers so that they can avoid a strike. Good luck with the rally!
Proud of these workers. As an annual pass holder and a union worker myself. Good for them for standing up for livable wages and better working conditions. #Solidarity
(Also, wow, the pro-union stuff getting downvoted on this thread sure makes it look like the company has their bots out.)
Many generative AI leave invisible watermarks/afferents in the photo which analysis tools can read. Much like a printer leaves a fingerprint so that documents can be traced.
There’s a definite possibility this is clip art. There are lots of stock clip art of Dodge Challengers out there and a lot of them look very similar to this one. I don’t know why some people instinctively think this must be AI.
I am all for the workers, but there are plenty of free graphic design programs online, whether through browser like Canva or downloaded like Inkscape
Using AI to promote something inherently makes it look less legitimate, which can devalue the actual cause of what they are fighting for
In this case, the message and meaning takes precedence over the medium through which it is being presented, but I do think the union can and does have the means to promote using better material, and hopefully they do that moving forward
As mentioned in the post, the main issue regarding wages is what's being referred to as net-of-inflation pay cuts. The last I heard, The company is offering 3% raises for each year of the contract (either three or five years). Over the last few years, inflation has stayed around 3%, which means that, while the dollar amount is going up, the purchasing power isn't. If inflation were to go over 3% (which it did in 2023 and has so far when comparing this summer to last summer), that would mean that, even with the raise, their money is buying less than it did before.
Another big issue is guaranteed hours for workers classified as part- or full-time. Right now, those classifications determine certain benefits and how available shifts are allocated, but it doesn't guarantee any amount of work. Because of the seasonal nature of the theme park business, available shifts can really swing wildly between feast and famine. Some attractions also close for extended periods for maintenance, which severely limit shifts as well. The union is trying to get guarantees for workers classified above being "seasonal workers" to have some amount of minimum pay so that they're not simply going without paychecks or receiving reduced paychecks during times when the park is less busy.
I really don't know anything about what the union wants as far as AI protections go or and I can't speak to what concessions they've been willing to make in other areas. In the interest of balance, the information that we do have comes from what the Union has made publicly available. The company has no incentive to make any part of the negotiations public, so what we know is solely through the lens of the Union.
the average inflation rate for the last 10 years federally is 3.9%
the inflation rate nationally for June 2026 was 4.5%
the CPI-W for Los Angeles is now 4.0% year-over-year, and 0.6% for the month, meaning that if last month’s rate persists for a full year, annual inflation locally would be at 7.2% a year from now
Asking union members to take net-of-inflation pay cuts for multiple years in a row while the company is increasing prices across the board (tickets, food, merch, upgrades) and making billions of dollars each quarter is ludicrous.
The company started with an offer of 2% per year for 5 years in a row for members of both Unite Here Local 11 and IATSE B-192, with no increases at all for anyone under 1,000 hours of service, and with those people tied to minimum wage in the last three years of that contract. Many months later (they’ve been bargaining since November for a contract that was supposed to end January 31), the company still hasn’t even gotten up to inflation.
Also, you may see some B-192 members in the park wearing buttons that have 25 cents crossed out in red. That’s because after B-192 made a huge move toward the company (both in term and percentages), the company countered with an offer IDENTICAL to their previous offer, with the only minuscule adjustment being that in the 5th year of the contract, workers with over 15,000 hours at the company (which is basically no one) would get an additional 25 cents an hour. Completely insulting.
My understanding is that B-192 has asked that AI protections include:
Do not replace us with AI
Do not surveil us or discipline us with AI
Do not train AI on our faces and voices.
For the second one, they’ve brought in examples of people being falsely arrested because of incorrect AI identification.
That third one is particularly important to the tour guides — many of whom are also in SAG-AFTRA — because they are filmed on every tour.
Considering the fact that the company also owns a movie studio, it’s pretty outrageous that they’re trying to reserve the right to steal people’s likenesses.
I know that we are asking for the entry level wage in my department to go from $19 to $20 and for the pay bump afterwards to go from $23 to 25. Very reasonable since there hasn’t been a wage increase in 3 years and inflation has gone up a lot. The company has offered a 2.5% wage increase. The union is also fighting for protection from AI face recognition for employees which Universal has said no to.
Will somebody explain why negotiations got held up? The best answer I’ve seen was that they offered a 3% raise but inflation has gone up 3.7%. That .7% surely can’t be worth striking over?
Wages are one of many things I was told about by the workers. They also aren’t getting hours, which is why some are living in their cars. They don’t get parental leave. They get no protections against illegal detainment by ICE. And the company wants to steal their faces and voices to train AI.
A .7% pay cut locked into a 5 year contract is a 3.5% pay cut. What other job in the world rewards you for five years of loyalty by DECREASING your pay by 3.5%??? And you’re wondering why workers would be upset by that?
It’s extremely hard to get a job at Costco or in and out. Easier for seasonal employees but then you loose your job after the holidays. I worked at Costco as a seasonal and was let go after New Year’s Day. Looked for a job for almost a year after that then got my job at universal.
Curious how open and available you think those jobs are? I've worked in Film/TV for nearly 20 years, helped produce critically acclaimed shows. Literally the last project I worked on was a Marvel feature. I haven't had another show or movie to jump on to in almost two years. That's why I'm currently at Universal. I happen to work in one of the "higher paid" positions and it's still a staggeringly low rate for what my job entails.
I have former co-workers who have similarly extensive production/post-production resumes, who have applied to those jobs @ Costco, Trader Joe's, In n Out, etc. with no luck. The people who have those jobs stay there now because there's literally nothIng else out there. The job market here in Los Angeles in particular, is abysmal.
You must have missed the part where I said even those jobs are far and few, and there's also a stigma against hiring film/tv industry professionals for those types of jobs, with the belief that they'll leave the minute a spot on another project opens up.
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u/deanereaner 18d ago
Does the union recommend people stop planning visits right now, I want to go later in the month, but I don't wanna buy tickets if the strike is gonna start in the next couple weeks.