Local 11's new tactic: fear
We reported last week that Unite HERE Local 11, the hotel worker's union that has been in a contract dispute with Disney for nearly three years, had been passing out balloons with anti-Disney messages to visitors approaching the bag check tables on the opening night of ElecTRONica. The union repeated the balloon protest last Friday night, but this time added a new element: As thousands of guests flocked to the Resort Friday night for Mickey's Halloween Party, union representatives dressed as Disney characters stood at the Harbor Boulevard pedestrian entrance and handed out a flyer with the headline "Keep Your Children Close" and the warning "Places like Disneyland are magnets for 'pedophiles' " The flyer is printed in English and Spanish, features an ominous illustration of a hooded figure, and bears the message, "A service from Unite HERE." The bottom half of the flyer lists steps parents should take to keep their children safe, including making sure children know to ask cast members for assistance if they get lost.
On Friday night, I posted a photo of the flyer on Twitter and asked, "Has Local 11 gone too far?" Nearly all respondents said the union had crossed a line, using terms like "creepy and misleading," "completely outrageous," and "way out of line" to describe the union's actions. One reader replied, "I've been sick of that union's stunts for awhile now," and asked, "What can the public do to stop them?" One member asked, "What do they really hope to get accomplished by using these tactics?"
Asked about the flyers, Disneyland spokeswoman Suzi Brown told MousePlanet, "Millions have visited and enjoyed Disneyland Resort over the years," and echoed the sentiments of some of our readers by saying, "Local 11’s leadership has reached a new low with this reprehensible tactic, and they should be ashamed of themselves."
The flyer goes on to state that there are 23 registered sex offenders living in Disneyland's ZIP code. According to the Megan's Law database, there are also 51 registered sex offenders in Knott's Berry Farm's ZIP code, but Unite HERE is seemingly limiting their "service" to patrons of the theme park with whom they are in a protracted contract dispute.
The union also claims that the Anaheim Police were called to the Disneyland Resort 64 times from between 2005 and 2010 to investigate "sex offenses." Sgt. Rick Martinez with the Anaheim Police Department told me that "Local 11 did request and spent months going through public records." He said that the records requested by the union included the three Disneyland Resort hotels, the two theme parks and Downtown Disney district, and constituted "tens of thousands of pages" of reports, many of them redacted to protect victim privacy. Martinez was not able to provide specific information about the 64 incidents cited on the union's flyer, or even confirm the accuracy of that number. Further, he said that "sex offenses" could mean anything from prostitution to indecent exposure, or even consensual sex in a public place like the parking structure. He said that he did not know if any of the calls resulted in an arrest, or if any of the incidents involved registered sex offenders or children under 14.
When we contacted Local 11 spokeswoman Leigh Shelton regarding the veracity of the information on the flyer, as well as to share with her some of the comments we'd received, her official response was, "We don't have any comment."
