Bernie Sanders accuses Disney of giving up its 'corporate welfare' to avoid wage hikes

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has a message for The Walt Disney Co.: Pay your employees a fair wage.

The company announced this week it is no longer accepting subsidies and tax breaks from the city of Anaheim, California, home to Disneyland, Disney California Adventure, and Downtown Disney. Sanders said Disney is doing this because executives are worried that in November, Anaheim voters will pass a "living wage" ordinance requiring large companies receiving municipal tax breaks to pay workers at least $15 an hour. By 2022, that amount will go up to $18 an hour.

"Disney is so nervous that the living-wage ballot initiative in Anaheim is going to pass, it would rather end some of the corporate welfare it receives from local taxpayers than pay all 30,000 of its workers decent wages," Sanders told The Guardian Thursday. In 2017, Sanders added, Disney made a net profit of $9 billion, and CEO Bob Iger has been offered a compensation package that could total $423 million over the next four years.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Disney is the largest employer and taxpayer in Anaheim, and in a letter Disneyland resort president Josh D'Amaro sent to the city council on Tuesday, he cited a "difficult working relationship with the city" but nothing about the ordinance. In July, Disney agreed to pay one-third of its employees $15 an hour, and it's in negotiations with unions representing another third, The Guardian reports.