![\"Advocates](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Group-Photo.jpg\")
Advocates with Central Florida Jobs with Justice and the Minnesota Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee urge Disney to hold balloon manufacturer accountable for fair treatment and pay for incarcerated workers who fold Disney character balloons. Dec. 2, 2025. Credit: Courtesy of Central Florida Jobs with Justice<\/p>\n
Disney World has long been known for putting effort into making every family\u2019s visit to its Orlando parks magical. The multinational entertainment giant sells its fill of merchandise at its world-renowned parks to appease eager children and adults alike, and offers various guest services<\/a> to accommodate the needs of guests with all abilities, plus their service animals.<\/p>\n Disney even recommends<\/a> specialty character balloons through an online vendor that guests can buy and have personally delivered to their hotel room at a local Disney World Resort hotel.<\/p>\n A jumbo Mickey Mouse-shaped balloon<\/a>, for instance, will cost you $45 plus a delivery fee. But what isn\u2019t disclosed, by neither Disney nor its third-party vendor, is the manufacturer who produces those balloons \u2014 and how much workers are paid to fold and package them.\u00a0<\/p>\n Anagram International, a licensed manufacturer of decorative Disney balloons<\/a>, is based out of Minnesota and is one of the Minnesota Department of Corrections\u2019 largest contractors for prison labor. Its contract with the state\u2019s corrections system \u2014 a recent subject of scrutiny<\/a> by state auditors \u2014 allows Anagram to use prison labor at certain correctional facilities to fold, add ribbons to, and package their products. Allegedly, this includes Disney character balloons.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why advocates with the Minnesota Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee and Central Florida Jobs with Justice<\/a> joined forces outside Disney World Tuesday to voice their concerns.<\/p>\n Dontania \u201cNina\u201d Petrie, 35, who served three years\u2019 time in Minnesota\u2019s Shakopee Women\u2019s Prison from 2017 to 2020, is all too familiar with the balloon production process. She told Orlando Weekly that, while incarcerated herself, she was directed to fold 300 to 500 hundred Anagram-branded balloons per hour for an hourly wage of just 50 cents.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the tasks that I did was folding balloons with Disney characters on them,\u201d she recalled at a press conference Tuesday. \u201cI remember that some of them had characters from Frozen and the fork from Toy Story 4 \u2013 I remember because my other daughter really loved Frozen, so it stuck with me.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2024, the average wage for workers folding balloons in Minnesota prisons was just 90 cents an hour, according to a recent state audit<\/a>. That\u2019s more than Petrie herself earned, but still far less than Minnesota\u2019s 2024 minimum wage<\/a> of $10.85 for large employers \u2014 those that report at least $500,000 in annual gross revenue \u2014 and $8.85 for smaller employers.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s 50 of us to a room, we\u2019re all folding balloons, and we\u2019re each getting paid 50 cents,\u201d Petrie recalled. \u201cThat\u2019s $25 an hour to fold up 300 balloons a piece. And then they\u2019re selling these same balloons, one balloon, for $50.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n A call to action<\/p>\n Incarcerated workers, unlike most other employees, aren\u2019t entitled<\/a> to minimum wage under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Courts have ruled they do not in fact count as \u201cemployees.\u201d<\/p>\n And although slavery and involuntary servitude is barred under the U.S. Constitution, the 13th Amendment contains one exception: \u201cexcept as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Petrie, an advocate with the Minnesota Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, can\u2019t say for sure whether the Disney balloons that prisoners fold behind bars for Anagram are the same balloons that are delivered to guests at Disney World Resort hotels in Orlando. Balloons produced by Anagram International, a Minnesota-based company, are also sold at Amazon<\/a>, Party City<\/a>, and other party supplies sites.<\/p>\n Still, she and other advocates with Central Florida Jobs with Justice<\/a>, a local coalition of labor and social advocacy groups, are calling on Disney to disclose whether prison labor was used to make the balloons sold at Disney World Resorts.\u00a0And, if so, for Disney to disclose the pay rates for the workers who helped make those balloons and to advocate for state legislation in Minnesota that would raise wages for incarcerated workers.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I left Shakopee, I left with about $108 that I used to get a little flip phone and a tank of gas,\u201d said Petrie, who\u2019s now studying to become a civil rights attorney. \u201cI believe that when people leave prison, they should be able to get their life back on track.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI believe that when people leave prison, they should be able to get their life back on track\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Having too little money upon release, she added, \u201ccan make it easier to fall back into criminal activity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The Walt Disney Co. did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story via email. Nor did Anagram International, a leading foil balloon manufacturer that has a contract with the Minnesota Department of Corrections that is set to last through 2026.<\/p>\n The Walt Disney Company has a set of international labor standard for its supplier chain that explicitly prohibits forced labor<\/a>, including paid prison labor.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the event forced labor is identified at a facility, Disney may require that Disney-branded production at the facility be suspended until remediation is completed,\u201d a Disney impact report reads.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople who are serving their time deserve to be treated like human beings,\u201d said Sam Delgado, a community activist and program manager for Central Florida Jobs with Justice. <\/p>\n Advocates with Beyond the Bars<\/a>, a Miami-based worker center that similarly advocates for workers with criminal records, joined Delgado and the Minnesota IWOC on a public sidewalk just outside of Disney World on Tuesday, in solidarity with their call to action for Disney.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat our members are fighting for is what every person deserves: a living wage, strong protections, and a clear path to stable, long-term, union employment when they reenter their communities,\u201d said Jandrick Castro, an organizer with Beyond the Bars. \u201cWe reject it when their labor is exploited.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s exploitation, really\u2019<\/p>\n In 2024, Minnesota prisoners who folded Anagram-branded balloons behind bars did so for less than a dollar an hour, even as incarcerated workers tasked with packaging or adding ribbons to balloons, for instance, earned more.\u00a0<\/p>\n Under rules of a federal program<\/a> that Minnesota\u2019s correctional system participates in, the Department of Corrections determined that only certain types of work, including tying\u00a0 ribbons onto balloons, were eligible for a higher, prevailing wage that is mandated by program requirements.\u00a0<\/p>\n Other types of work, such as folding balloons, were exempted from this higher wage, a state audit found, as long as the balloons folded by inmates weren\u2019t actually produced by other incarcerated workers.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s exploitation, really, at the end of the day,\u201d said Petrie. <\/p>\n Members of her organization have advocated in recent years for stronger protections for incarcerated people in Minnesota prisons, including an end to solitary confinement and an end to strip searching<\/a> in the wake of sexual assault allegations against prison guards.<\/p>\n In Florida, prisoners similarly work<\/a> through multi-billion dollar companies like Aramark \u2014 producing billions of dollars\u2019 worth in goods and services \u2014 for little to no pay. For Petrie, her cause is driven by a commitment to racial justice in addition to labor rights, arguing that low pay for incarcerated workers (a disproportionate percentage<\/a> of whom are people of color) inside creates a \u201cpipeline\u201d for recidivism.<\/p>\n \u201cI do believe that this is just the prison industrial complex, so that we are there to actually subsidize these billion dollar corporations,\u201d Petrie said.<\/p>\n Taking it seriously<\/p>\n Advocates highlighted the fact that the Walt Disney Company has delved into allegations of labor violations before. It has sent auditors to factories overseas and has even looked into labor practices at a factory that didn\u2019t have a direct relationship with Disney, but was producing Disney-branded products as the result of \u201cunauthorized subcontracting\u201d by a licensee\u2019s supplier.<\/p>\n As stated in a 2022 impact report<\/a>, Disney has made efforts to respond to \u201cpublic concerns\u201d and \u201callegations\u201d of unsavory labor practices. This includes allegations of the \u201cunderpayment of wages\u201d at a factory in Thailand that produced Disney-branded products without explicit authorization from the entertainment giant.<\/p>\n \u201cWe take seriously claims of labor standards violations against independent facilities that manufacture Disney-branded products, and when stakeholders and those we do business with bring such allegations to us, we work to investigate and address these allegations promptly and responsibly,\u201d the impact report states.<\/p>\n Disney World itself employs more than 40,000 parks and hotel workers who are represented by a labor union, and who have certain protections and a path for recourse if they believe their rights have been violated. Third-party service workers at Disney Springs, employed by Disney subcontractor The Patina Group, have been organizing for similar protections<\/a> on the job and a fair process for forming a union themselves.<\/p>\n Delgado, with Central Florida Jobs with Justice, confirmed that advocates delivered a report to Disney on Tuesday, documenting the Disney balloon-folding situation occurring in Minnesota prisons. They also requested a meeting with corporate Disney representatives in Orlando to discuss.<\/p>\n \u201cAnagram Balloons saves money by having their balloons folded in prisons,\u201d Delgado said. \u201cWe are proud that Disney has the tools to stand against that.\u201d<\/p>\n Subscribe to Orlando Weekly newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n Follow us:\u00a0Apple News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>\u00a0| Or sign up for our\u00a0RSS Feed<\/a><\/p>\n Related Stories<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tFrom Orlando to Tokyo in one flight? Pinch me (Actually, don\u2019t)\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n![\"Disney](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Anagram-balloons-Disney.jpg\")
A screenshot of Disney character balloons manufactured by Anagram International. Credit: via Anagram Balloons<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"MCO](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/shutterstock_2638456641.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
![\"Arbitrator](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/shutterstock_2667374393.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Disney](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/549287006_1178664777624490_533579066623495618_n.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n