Abigail Goes To Anaheim: Disney Heiress Speaks Out About Salaries

ANAHEIM, CA — She's an heiress with a recognizable name, but she's managed to fly below the radar for most of her life. Abigail Disney, granddaughter of Roy Disney, co-founder of the happiest place on Earth, and grand-niece of Walt Disney, believes she is in a rare position to speak out for the American worker.

It may sound strange to some. Why would a woman who has innumerable resources care about the minimum-wage earner? As part of the uber-rich, she has spent years coming to terms with what that means and is, at last, comfortable in her skin. Her philosophy, shared recently with New York Magazine, is simple: heirs and heiresses who don't need to earn money should try to "earn it in reverse."

That school of thought has earned her the No. 2 spot on InStyle's The Badass 50, which she described on Twitter as "so freaking cool."

Disney has the heart of an activist in a way that would make her grandfather proud, she thinks.

With Disneyland the largest employer in Anaheim, Abigail has used the full force of her name in an effort to ensure that Disneyland cast members find their "genuine happy," as Roy and Walt Disney intended.

Keeping it real, minimum wage in the state of California for a company with over 26 employees is $12 an hour. The median income at Disneyland is approximately $48,000 a year. Starting workers earn $15 an hour, and, in that respect, the resort is ahead of the game considering the state's new $15 minimum wage doesn't take effect for two more years. The theme park's union launched a high-profile battle in recent years with the help of Sen. Bernie Sanders to have the minimum wage raised from $11 an hour.

Still, from Disney's perspective, the living wage in Anaheim should be closer to $24 an hour.

"There is no excuse to pay a sub-living wage to any worker," she said. "Disneyland is not just 'any' company," she told Congress on the recent discussion of the American worker.

"(Disney) is not US Steel or any other brand. (Disney) is a brand that suggests love," she said. "I have spoken up as a Disney about Disney because I am uniquely placed to do so. Those moral undertones and all that love needs to be put to constructive use, because (minimum wage is) a moral issue."

After learning that several cast members could not afford medicine, housing and in some cases food, Disney took the case to the media. Now she plans to produce a film regarding the strife of the minimum wage earner, through the lens of Disneyland.

"I've been hoping to take the wage issue on, by way of Disney," she told Democracy Now.

Disney CEO Bob Iger remains in her cross-hairs, and no amount of corporate drum-beating can turn her rhetoric down.

She has turned her spotlight on Iger's $22,000-an-hour salary, compared to the $15-an-hour starting wage of his lowest employee, calling it a vast gulf between CEO and worker that cannot be ignored. It is, as she puts it, "income inequality."

"Shame on you. Pay them," she said in her 20-part Twitter diatribe, railing at CEOs about the enormous gap in wages between the top personnel and the lowest-level employee. "They are doing a job you would never do."

In response, a Disneyland Resort spokesperson told Patch that "at both parks in Orlando and Anaheim, The Walt Disney Company currently pays its hourly workers an average of $19.50 an hour, significantly above the federal minimum wage. But we understand the challenges workers and families face in 2019 are complex and go beyond the paycheck. That’s why we provide a wide range of benefits and initiatives to improve our employees’ lives at and outside of work: from subsidized childcare to generous leave policies, from convenient access to pharmacies and clinics to free college degrees and vocational training programs for hourly employees."

One of those programs, Disney Aspire, is assisting employees to empower their own upward mobility. This covers 100-percent of tuition costs, books and fees.

Abigail Disney was skeptical of the program, and discussed that workers may end up being taxed on those benefits.

"No one knows how much or when," she wrote on Twitter.

Disneyland Resort has said that $150 million has been committed to the program "so that hourly workers can pursue higher education free of charge and graduate without debt," a spokesperson told Patch. Any tax implications would be accounted for.

According to Abigail Disney, there is "such a thing as too much money, and it sows more grief and cruelty than joy and light, but that's just me."

She has spoken with Disneyland workers at their off-property Union Headquarters, hearing the whole story of what it is like to be a Disneyland worker. The dichotomy of the hourly cast member's low wages are her jumping-off point, she told Democracy Now.

"Disney is a really special company," she said. "It means something really special to the workers and people across the country. They believe they are going to their job and making the world a better place."

For Abigail Disney, Disneyland is more than a company, more than a brand. It is an idea. It is an ideal. She hopes to keep shining the light on the corporation in an effort to keeping them honest.

And, a side note? If you don't follow Abigail Disney on Twitter, you should.