On Monday morning, around two dozen LEGO Store employees and union organizers gathered at the LEGO Store in Downtown Disney District to present management with a union petition. This marks the first time that “brick specialists” have attempted to do so in the United States.
“We love the Lego Group’s mission statement that ‘only the best is good enough,’” said Hunter Gulino, a brick specialist at the store. “We want to build the best workplace possible here at Downtown Disney. There are issues we believe a union will help us resolve.”
Gulino reached out to organizers with the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 324 in March. This was because he knew that this union serves retail workers in the Disney parks.
“Thousands of our friends and coworkers at Disneyland are already members of a union, we just want the same rights they enjoy,” said Gulino in the union statement. “To us, having a union is about being treated fairly.”
There are over 50 non-managerial workers who are employed at the Downtown Disney District LEGO Store. They are known as “brick specialists” and help customers, build displays, and manage the store’s daily operations. The efforts to form a union, workers say, is about fairness and having a voice in the decisions that affect their jobs.
The employees at the LEGO Store don’t work directly for Disney. However, the union says that they are covered under a December settlement guaranteeing a living wage under Measure L because the store is part of the Downtown Disney District. UFCW said that LEGO employees weren’t given the same clear information about benefits like 401(K) contributions as Disney employees did under the settlement.
LEGO did respond to Measure L by issuing back pay and raising wages. However, brick specialists say that management cut hours afterwards.
“I was at the store a whole lot more before Measure L,” Gulino said, referring to Anaheim’s wage law.
“A lot of us have complaints about our scheduling,” added Melissa Gonzalez, a four-year brick specialist. “After raises and back pay, they seemingly cut our hours down so they would not have to pay out so much for their employees.”
There are other issues also being brought up in the workers’ efforts to unionize. One of them involves the air conditioning system, which workers allege does not work properly. “Our air conditioner hasn’t worked properly in probably five years, according to one of my co-workers,” Gulino said. “It works just fine upstairs but it doesn’t have great circulation. Downstairs, it’s a sea of guests and it gets very hot.”
UCFW says that 80% of workers at the Disneyland Resort are represented by a union. LEGO can choose to voluntarily recognize the union or employees can have the National Labor Relations Board schedule an election to determine their future.
“I want to be a part of setting a precedent for my workplace and for any other future Lego employees who may be interested in joining a union,” she said. “I want to make sure that Lego employees are treated with respect and are compensated fairly. It’s a place that we love to work at.”
