Disney blocks historic labor strike at Epcot in Orlando

Credit: via Shutterstock

The Walt Disney Company has blocked what could have been a historic labor strike by food service workers at Disney World’s Epcot in Orlando, thereby forcing workers to take a different approach to leverage their demands for a new union contract.

Restaurant workers at Epcot’s Italy Pavilion, represented by Unite Here Local 737, are employed by the Patina Group, a Disney contractor. The union — which represents 70 workers at Tutto Italia, Via Napoli, and Tutto Gusto — has been in talks with Patina for a new union contract since earlier this year. Their last contract expired Sept. 30.

But after talks remained unsuccessful, union leaders announced in August that workers would vote on whether to authorize union leaders to call for a strike — the first-ever by food service workers on Disney World property — if the company failed to meet their demands for higher pay and stronger benefits.

According to Jeremy Haicken, president of Unite Here Local 737, Disney didn’t like this threat.

The multinational entertainment giant, which has its own multi-year contracts with labor unions, brought in an arbitrator to argue that a strike by any workers on Disney World property — even if not directly employed by Disney itself — would constitute a violation of their current contract with Local 737 and five other unions that make up the Services Trade Council Union.

For the duration of that five-year contract, last negotiated in 2023, the union is not permitted to aid or abet a strike by Disney World employees or, as Disney and the arbitrators argue, employees of contractors on Disney World property.

“The arbitrator ruled that Patina Group employees cannot strike,” Haicken confirmed Tuesday. Meaning, a strike will not be happening at Disney Epcot’s Italy Pavilion.

“We encourage guests to dine at Patina restaurants and tell the company you support the workers when you eat there,” the union president continued. “The fight,” he said, “is moving forward.”

The Walt Disney Company did not respond to a request for comment from Orlando Weekly on their decision to interfere with the Patina Group workers’ strike threat. The Patina Group also did not respond to a request for comment about the lack of progress made in contract talks that led to the strike vote.

Ismael Gonzales, a cook of 18 years at Tutto Italia at Epcot, says he’s willing to do whatever it takes to secure a good union contract (Aug. 26, 2025) Credit: photo by McKenna Schueler

Unionized workers at the Italy Pavilion are fighting for an $8 raise over three years, a pension plan so older employees can retire with dignity, affordable health insurance, and a 20 percent auto gratuity on customer checks. Under their last union contract, workers at the Italy Pavilion restaurants currently earn anywhere from $18.50 to $26.48 per hour. That maxes out at about $55,000 per year working full-time, depending on an employee’s job classification and seniority.

According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, workers in the Orlando metro area in 2025 need to be able to earn at least $33 an hour to be able to comfortably afford the average one-bedroom apartment, or $37.65 to splurge on a two-bedroom unit.

“Living paycheck to paycheck is my reality,” said Jennifer Quiñones, who’s worked at Tutto Italia for 11 years. She moved back into her grandmother’s house, but said her cost of living has still “skyrocketed.”

“All of us experience the same thing: Our bills are too high. Patina needs to do more,” she said.

Local 737 is also involved in an organizing effort among Patina Group workers at five Disney Springs restaurants: Morimoto Asia, Maria & Enzo’s, Enzo’s Hideaway, Pizza Ponte and The Edison. The Patina Group, a subsidiary of the multibillion-dollar company Delaware North, operates more than 40 restaurants across several states.

Garrett Stephens, a server at The Edison in Disney Springs — a non-union Patina Group restaurant — said he hasn’t been to a doctor in 10 years because he can’t afford health insurance. “I need to go to a doctor, and honestly, I’m scared,” he said. “But that’s also why I feel so determined. Because me and my coworkers deserve better.”

“We’re demanding a fair process from Patina for us to organize a union,” Stephens said. He also wants Patina to be held accountable for allegations of sexual harassment made by two women at Pizza Ponte.

The union has claimed that at least one of those women, Julie Ruiz, was fired last fall in part because she publicly spoke out against the harassment (allegedly perpetrated by a supervisor) and because of her prominent role in organizing a union at her restaurant. The official reason Ruiz was given for her firing was for wearing an earbud as she clocked into work.

“I’m here because I’m still fighting,” Ruiz, a young Latina, said Tuesday, standing alongside fellow Patina Group workers and Local 737 union members at Local 737’s union hall. “Not just for myself,” she added. “Sexual harassment should not be tolerated. We all deserve higher standards at work.”

Julissa “Julie” Ruiz, a former Patina Group employee at Disney Springs, joins other Patina workers and local union officials in calling for accountability from Disney, which allows Patina to operate restaurants on its property (July 30, 2025) Credit: photo by McKenna Schueler

According to Disney’s own supplier chain code of conduct, the company believes its contractors should be held to bare minimum labor standards, too.

Under the company’s code of conduct, contractors “must treat each worker with dignity and respect and not use corporal punishment, threats of violence, or other forms of physical, sexual, psychological, or verbal harassment or abuse.” Special attention, it reads, “should be paid to vulnerable groups, including, but not limited to, women, younger workers, migrants, and Indigenous peoples.”

Local 737 president Haicken said that the union is calling on Disney to enforce its code of conduct for contractors and is demanding that Disney investigates the Patina Group for potential violations, including alleged violations of workers’ collective bargaining rights.

“This year, a National Labor Relations Board Regional Director issued a complaint against Patina that includes six allegations of illegal surveillance by management, one allegation of a coercive threat and one allegation that a general manager illegally prohibited employee speech about protected organizing activity,” Haicken said.

Union members and allies, including Ruiz, staged a flyering event to raise awareness of these allegations earlier this year during the high-profile “Ramen Rumble” event at Morimoto Asia, a Japanese restaurant on Disney Springs property operated by Patina.

“Workers and their union are calling on Patina Group to live up to Disney’s standards outlined in the Disney Supply Chain Code of Conduct, which sets high expectations for all companies that provide services authorized by Disney,” Haicken said.

Disney did not respond to a request for comment from Orlando Weekly on the Patina Group’s alleged violations of their contractors’ code of conduct.

A union rep for Local 737 confirmed that, while unionized Patina Group workers at Epcot will not be striking, the union will continue bargaining with the Patina Group for a new union contract covering the Italy Pavilion employees.

A strike can provide critical leverage for organized labor during union contract negotiations, so without that, the workers will have an uphill battle ahead to get their demands met without major concessions.

“We are committed to fighting,” said Quiñones, the Tutto Italia worker. “We are never backing down.”

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Disney blocks historic labor strike at Epcot in Orlando

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