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Welp, I have a feeling a lot of people are going to be using Unemployment for a few months.

This will really mess up everything Entertainment wise, unless they find a way around the rules, things are going to really suck majorly.
 
I'm very torn over this. And I say this as a company owner and employer who is extremely familiar with the issue.

Oversimplifying for brevity, I am seeing three cases in play as businesses respond to the Affordable Care Act:

(1) Businesses which do not have to cut their part-timers' hours in order to make a killing but which do so anyway, hiding behind the "bad" health care law changes as a flimsy excuse. I see this a lot and know a handful of these types of owners. VERY sad to watch that kind of disgusting contempt for their own employees.

(2) Businesses with relatively thin net profits which, by virtue of employing hundreds or thousands of part-timers, face the terrible choice between either really large increases in benefits costs or devastating cuts to hours as an end-run around the law.

(3) A very wide range of businesses which are in between the first two, having neither the sociopathic leadership of (1) nor the genuinely impossible-seeming choice of (2). (Size is another variable I won't even get into.) For them it is not a question of survival, nor necessarily even a case of competitiveness, but rather a question of ownership's take at the end of the day. In my opinion it remains to be seen how this group will behave, but unfortunately it is not a stable equilibrium... particularly in the realm of public corporations.

I strongly suspect that non-Disney amusement parks generally fall into case (2).

In a group of park enthusiasts it is natural and easy to focus on this like a laser. It is one part of the picture. It is not by any stretch of the imagination the entire picture.

All of this stands against the backdrop of the alternative in the absence of any such law. That alternative, particularly in the long term, is terrifying. Nobody from either side of the aisle, nor from the middle, has proposed anything at all that offers both a realistic chance of becoming law and a better solution to the worst case scenario of doing nothing.

So by all means, follow the advice of gigantic one-word posts urging you to VOTE. But if your vote is to be influenced by health care legislation, make sure you're fully familiar with the total picture first, and the incredibly complex reality of a problem which has no truly "good" solution.

Edit: I note that the posts I just mentioned at the end of this post have disappeared. Apologies for the reactive political bent at the end here. I'll happily remove it if it saves the rest of the post!
 
Thanks for the insight halfabee- it helps quite a bit.




Anyway, I've talked to a few people tonight on the inside about what's happening. I've been told in no uncertain terms that Williamsburg's Entertainment department is, quote, "completely f***ed" due to the new rules.
 
wyldekat said:
Carl Lum told employees today that in 2014 seasonal employees will not be allowed to work any longer than 6 months per year, this is coming down from SeaWorld. This will have far-reaching effects in staffing. This is all part of the new staffing rules.

Just confirming this as 100% fact.
 
So if team members can only work 6 months out of the year does that mean they can work every other month and still be clear or does the 6 months have to be consecutive?

I know currently, team members must take two months off, but they can be split up throughout the year.

Just another way of getting around the rules.
 
The park has no choice, it is the requirement for seasonal work now...it has to be up to six months consecutive work, but then you have to be off for six consecutive months before you can be rehired again.
 
I think it's ridiculous to fire people that could do the job and hire new people that can't. Don't get me wrong. I am not demeaning anyone's talent level but changing the requirements of several roles because they are unable to perform what is written is unacceptable. You have too many people who put blood, sweat, and tears into the park that have proven themselves time again. Also too many things felt forced since they couldn't be done like last year but tried to resemble last year's shows. Always too much track as well for shows with musicians. A lot of people did a really good job but nothing was any better to warrant Scott firing everyone. Which goes to show you it had nothing to do with talent but with the fact he was upset at most performers for not liking him and standing up for their rights. Sounds silly but it's true and you can ask anyone that was there.
 
I emailed Jim Atchison at SW over two weeks ago, but have not received any reply. Has anyone else?
Perhaps the whole new cast for the Fall and Christmas was a precursor to how business will have to be run next year with the 6 month rule. Maybe they were seeing if they could pull it off. I, for one, did not see any improvement in the new cast members of NB and DIU. Haven't checked out Fiends, yet. As for musicians, I know they will not be able to keep quality, seasoned musicians if they can only work 6 months. Ya gotta make a living....
 
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Aren't theme park entertainers paid by the hour they're on stage? If so, I think it would be particularly hard for anyone in the entertainment department to reach 30 hours.
 
Entertainers are not paid for just their on stage time. They have a scheduled shift, they clock in, do their performances and in between performances prep and practice and such, sometime in the day they have their break, do more performances, and clock out.
 
NTOTC said:
I emailed Jim Atchison at SW over two weeks ago, but have not received any reply. Has anyone else?
Perhaps the whole new cast for the Fall and Christmas was a precursor to how business will have to be run next year with the 6 month rule. Maybe they were seeing if they could pull it off. I, for one, did not see any improvement in the new cast members of NB and DIU. Haven't checked out Fiends, yet. As for musicians, I know they will not be able to keep quality, seasoned musicians if they can only work 6 months. Ya gotta make a living....

I emailed him the end of last month. No reply. I guess when it's bad news for them, they just do like pass member preview day and avoid it. To me that just comes across as they know they are "guilty".

We use to get personalized letters from management "back in the day" when we wrote in. Ours were signed by Mark Pauls, whomever that may be. But SOMEONE answered. It took composing, typing, signing and mailing. Not a chore, but some work to do.

NO answer in this day and age of quick and easy electronic communication in inexcusable, in my opinion.
 
The few times I felt a change was needed, I typed a personal letter and sent the letter to the president of the company via Fedex. It gets their attention. I got the idea from Marriott because I knew Mr. Marriott personally responded to mail addressed to him. Fedex was my touch because I felt it would get more attention. Perhaps you should try the same thing.
 
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^To make them feel guilty, write in sloppily in purple crayon and misspell a couple of words here and there. :)
 
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Just heard that SG is "on vacation" for two weeks and not around the park! Since he took his mandatory month off in August(or there abouts) what do you think this means??? Anyone see a moving van in Ford's Colony??
 
Hey he lives right near me :p But seriously there is so much wrong with that statement. First, i would never reveal any location where someone lived, even as general as that. That is way too much. Ever think he had a family emergency? Maybe he needed sometime off for who knows what.
 
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