In 2020, security guards similarly filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board seeking union representation with the International Union, Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America, a labor union that also represents security at Disney World and the Kennedy Space Center. Guards at SeaWorld, however, reportedly voted 23 to 10 against unionization back in 2020, solidifying the theme park’s status as union-free.
This means the latest effort by guards to form a union could establish the first-ever union at SeaWorld’s Orlando location, which is technically operated by parent company United Park & Resorts. The company, which operates globally, owns a number of recognizable theme park brands: SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, Discovery Cove and Aquatica, among others.
Security guards at SeaWorld, a park that welcomes millions of guests per year, are generally tasked with working security points, inspecting bags to prevent contraband from entering the park, and providing aid during emergency situations, among other responsibilities, according to a job listing.
Information on hourly pay for the position is not provided, and the company has repeatedly dodged efforts to disclose such information to the media.
The labor union that security guards are looking to join, SPFPA, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Orlando Weekly on the latest unionization effort. Neither did SeaWorld.
According to the NLRB, 60 guards at SeaWorld would be eligible to join the union, if the union prevails in an election. Filing a petition for a union election requires gathering signed cards of support from at least 30 percent of workers who would be represented by the union. Then, a simple majority — over 50 percent of voters — must vote in favor of unionization.
Just about 6 percent of Florida’s entire workforce has union representation, compared to 11.1 percent nationwide. Last time guards at SeaWorld attempted to unionize, the theme park played a dirty, if not unprecedented trick: They permanently let go roughly half of the security guards eligible to join the union, after furloughing them (and more than 90 percent of the theme park’s staff) earlier that year.
It was during the COVID-19 pandemic, so layoffs and furloughs weren’t uncommon in the tourism industry — but laying off unionizing workers, or even shutting down locations where workers have launched union drives, isn’t terribly uncommon at any time.
A recent example can be seen with Amazon facilities in Québec, where workers had formed the very first Amazon labor union in Canada before Amazon decided those strategic warehouses were no longer necessary — and shut them down.
Longtime readers may also recall Orlando’s Dandelion Communitea Cafe, a vegetarian eatery that also curiously shuttered in 2020 after workers there organized and staged a walkout with the help of the scrappy Industrial Workers of the World union.
Back in 2020, this tactic may have very well helped kill the unionization effort at SeaWorld. NLRB officials decided to exclude from the union election security guards who had not been offered their jobs back after being furloughed, thus curtailing the voter population. As Orlando Weekly reported at the time, some speculated online that SeaWorld was laying off employees only to rehire for the same jobs with lower pay — a claim SeaWorld’s PR folks denied.
“The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on each of our lives, in ways both small and profound,” a spokesperson shared in a statement. “We are sorry to have to part ways with any team members in this difficult moment, but their abiding commitment to our guests, fellow Ambassadors [SeaWorld employees] and animals is recognized and made a lasting impact.”
Job security, and protection from layoffs without cause, are often key motivating factors for organizing drives, alongside issues such as compensation, job benefits and other workplace concerns.
But intimidation from employers, including unlawful means of coercion and retaliation during union elections, can often serve as deterrents. A 2019 analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, for instance, found that employers are charged with violating federal labor law in roughly 40 percent of union campaigns.
Such tactics can be galvanizing during union drives, but can also serve employers by sowing fear and even resentment against the union for bothering the boss enough to prompt retaliatory actions.
The most recent attempt by SeaWorld employees to unionize, in or outside of Orlando, was at SeaWorld San Diego last year. Divers at the park, similarly working in a high-cost-of-living area, filed a petition last July to join the Teamsters. According to the NLRB, divers ultimately voted 4 to 8 against unionization, out of 15 eligible voters.
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This article appears in Feb 19-25, 2025.