High praise for its union workers and a testimony to their skills and their ability to work under pressure were given recently by the president of Walt Disney Productions.
The fantasy world of Disney produced one of the biggest construction jobs of 1971. It was an all-union operation employing more than 7,000 skilled craftsmen including thousands of members of the Brotherhood. The statement by the president of Walt Disney Productions appears at left.
It is timely and appropriate for the Disney organization publicly to acknowledge organized labor's significant contribution to the construction of our new 'Vacation Kingdom.'
Seventeen International and National Unions and their local Florida affiliates have provided skilled workmen who are their members to facilitate the construction.
The unions, members of the Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters negotiated an agreement with Disney in 1968 which is truly unique in the history of the construction industry.
Organized labor recognized the unique technical and creative problems in the vast recreational project and, together with representatives of Disney management, they met this challenge in an historic collective bargaining agreement.
The contract was designed to provide labor peace and to permit the company to utilize the most advanced techniques of construction and freely enlist the services of technicians and skilled artists from all parts of the country.
At the height of construction, approximately 7,000 building trades people were employed on the job site. It is a remarkable achievement for the building trades unions that, with so many different skills represented on the job site, the project was virtually free of strikes.
The experience gained at Walt Disney World through the application of many of these new construction techniques is sure to benefit all mankind in the years to come.
-DONN B. TATUM
President, Walt Disney Productions
