Disney Union Workers Due 3% Raises, Paid Sick Days

ANAHEIM — About 1,250 union workers at the Disneyland and Disney Pacific hotels ratified a three-year contract with the Walt Disney Co. that includes increases of about 3% a year.

Workers who don’t receive tips will get slightly more than a 3% increase this year, which includes the addition of paid sick days, said Angela Keefe, president of Hotel Employees Restaurant Employees Local 681. They’ll also receive hourly wage increases of about 3% in 1998 and 1999, Keefe said. The current average wage is $8 per hour.

Workers who receive tips will receive an 18% raise in base pay over the life of the contract because of the boost in the minimum wage. The state minimum wage rises from $4.75 to $5 an hour in March, and to $5.75 in March 1998.

The contract includes a new feature--seven days of paid sick leave a year, which will be paid from a trust fund jointly managed by the union and Disney. The fund already pays medical, dental and pension benefits