Disney union files labor complaint against Disney Springs contractor for firing union activist who spoke up about sexual harassment

A labor union that represents thousands of hotel and food service workers at Disney World in Orlando has filed an official complaint against a Disney Springs contractor, alleging the Patina Restaurant Group illegally fired a young cashier.

The complaint, formally known as an unfair labor practice charge, was filed against, with the National Labor Relations Board on Nov. 6. It comes less than two weeks after the union, Unite Here Local 737, held a press conference, announcing that cashier and server Julie Ruiz, an employee of the Patina-owned Pizza Ponte eatery at Disney Springs, had been abruptly fired.

The official reason, according to Ruiz, was that she walked into work last month wearing an earbud.

She says she was reprimanded for this, then unexpectedly suspended by management and fired. The union argues that Ruiz was fired because she had become a leader in a fight to organize a union at Pizza Ponte, along with employees at other Patina-owned establishments, like Maria & Enzo’s and the Edison. They officially announced their organizing drive for better wages and benefits like affordable healthcare in April, pointing toward the comparably better working conditions afforded to union-represented Disney World employees.

Ruiz had also spoken up about alleged sexual harassment by a supervisor at Pizza Ponte, whom the company allowed to work alongside her for at least six more months, per Ruiz. The company, owned by the national food service and hospitality company Delaware North, has not responded to multiple requests for comment on these allegations, which have been echoed by another union leader and Patina Restaurant Group worker as well.

Ruiz is currently homeless, paying $450 a month to sleep on a couch in a friend’s living room. She was saving up for an apartment of her own.

“My supervisor wasn’t fired for sexual harassment, but one week after I passed out these [pro-union] flyers, I was fired for wearing an earbud,” said Ruiz at a meeting on Oct. 29. “I’m not going to accept this treatment. I’m going to fight for myself and the women who work at Disney Springs.”

Firing an employee for forming, supporting or joining a union is a violation of the federal National Labor Relations Act. Firing an employee in retaliation for reporting sexual harassment is prohibited under the federal Civil Rights Act.

One of Ruiz’s coworkers at the time, Joli Lindsay, officially reported their supervisor to management at Pizza Ponte for sexual harassment. Lindsay is also a leader in the union organizing effort at Disney Springs.

“There was a whole investigation. They interviewed or investigated me and all the other girls, and he got sent home and returned to work the next day,” said Lindsay, 21, at a press conference earlier this year. “So I felt as if my, our voice wasn’t heard. I’m also one of the people who had a manager trying to persuade me out of joining the union.”

While the union went public with Ruiz’s firing in late October, filing an unfair labor practice charge with the federal labor board this month is something of an escalation.

Union president Jeremy Haicken declined to comment on filing the charge, but told Orlando Weekly last month that the union was “absolutely going to fight until Julie has her job back.” The labor union also represents about 19,000 Disney World employees, as workers at local hotels, the Orange County Convention Center, and two Patina-owned restaurants at Disney’s Epcot.

Unfair labor practice charges can take months, if not years to process, due to the amount of information-gathering this can require, between hearings and gathering testimony. The National Labor Relations Board, which has for years pleaded for more funding, is currently facing a lawsuit from the company SpaceX, which argues the labor board is unconstitutional. Other companies like Trader Joe’s, Amazon and Starbucks have also joined the suit.

SpaceX, a company that builds rockets and spacecraft, is owned by Trump ally Elon Musk, whose company is no stranger to complaints of unfair labor practice charges itself. Same goes for other companies, like Amazon, that have also jumped on the bandwagon.

Trump, now U.S. President-Elect following Tuesday’s presidential election, has said he intends to tap Musk for a position in his administration to oversee government “efficiency” efforts. Under Trump’s first term in the White House, his administration reportedly “made quick work” of undoing Obama-era labor regulations that made it easier for workers to organize.

“No one — not Donald Trump or JD Vance, nor any one CEO — can stop solidarity,” said Liz Shuler, president of the country’s largest labor federation, the AFL-CIO, in a statement Wednesday. “Organized labor is the path forward.”

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This article appears in Nov 6-12, 2024.