Anaheim, California – Disneyland actors who bring Mickey Mouse, Cinderella, and other popular characters to life at the Southern California resort voted to unionize after a three-day referendum that ended on Saturday.

The Actors’ Equity Association labor union announced Saturday that cast members at Disney’s theme parks near Los Angeles voted overwhelmingly for the union to become the bargaining agent for approximately 1,700 workers.

According to an association website that tracked balloting among cast members, 78.7% (953 votes) supported the passage, and 21.3% (258 votes) opposed it

Disneyland Character And Parade Performers In California Vote To Join Labor Union

“They say that Disneyland is ‘the place where dreams come true,’ and for the Disney Cast Members who have worked to organize a union, their dream came true today,” Actors’ Equity Association President Kate Shindle said in a statement on Saturday night.

Shindle described the workers as the “front lines” of the Disneyland guest experience. She said the association and cast members will address health and safety improvements, salaries, benefits, working conditions, and job security before meeting with Walt Disney Company executives to negotiate worker priorities into a contract.

The union now represents theatrical actors in Disney’s Florida parks.

According to the association, the National Labor Relations Board’s regional director will certify the results within a week, assuming no election challenges.

The NLRB did not immediately respond to The Associated Press’s email requesting confirmation or other information about the vote.

The election was held on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday in Anaheim, California after employees filed cards earlier this year to join the “Magic United” unit.

Disneyland Character And Parade Performers In California Vote To Join Labor Union

Parade and character workers who advocated for unionization said they like helping to create a fantastic experience at Disneyland. However, they were anxious when asked to begin hugging people after returning to work during the coronavirus pandemic. They also claimed that elaborate outfits and unpredictable timetables cause damage.

Most of the Disneyland Resort’s more than 35,000 employees, including cleaning crews, pyrotechnic specialists, and security personnel, are already unionized. The resort contains Disneyland, the Walt Disney Company’s oldest theme park, Disney California Adventure and Anaheim’s shopping and entertainment center, Downtown Disney

In recent years, Disney has been accused of failing to pay a living wage to its Southern California employees, who face excessive housing prices and frequently drive long distances or live in cramped quarters. Parade performers and character actors are paid a base rate of $24.15 per hour, up from $20 before January, plus premiums for certain roles.

Union membership has been declining in the United States for decades, but organizations have enjoyed increased public support in recent years during high-profile contract negotiations with Hollywood studios and Las Vegas hotels. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which protects workers’ rights to organize, announced more than 2,500 filings for union representation during the fiscal year 2023, the most in eight years.

Disneyland Character And Parade Performers In California Vote To Join Labor Union

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a union that normally represents transportation workers, organized those who play Mickey, Goofy, and Donald Duck in Florida over 40 years ago.

At the time, Florida performers complained about unclean costumes and harassment from customers, including youngsters who kicked the shins of Disney villains like Captain Hook.

SOURCE – (AP)

Washington — Whether tapioca balls or computer chips, Taiwan is moving toward the United States and away from China, the world’s second-largest economy, which threatens to capture the democratically governed island by force if necessary.

That has resulted in the world’s largest manufacturer of computer chips, which power everything from medical equipment to cellphones, announcing further investments in the United States last month following a boost from the Biden administration. Soon after, a Taiwanese semiconductor company announced the end of its two-decade-long presence in mainland China, citing global competition for a competitive advantage in the high-tech industry.

Taiwan Is Selling More To The US Than China In Major Shift Away From Beijing

These measures, which come at a time when the China-US rivalry is heating up, reflect Taiwan’s efforts to lessen its reliance on Beijing and shield itself from Chinese coercion while strengthening economic and trade connections with the United States, its most important partner. The change is also taking place as China’s economic growth has slowed and global corporations seek to diversify following supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic.

In a clear example of the transition, the United States surpassed mainland China as the top destination for Taiwan’s exports in the first quarter of the year for the first time since early 2016, when comparable data became available. According to government data, Taiwan shipped $24.6 billion in commodities to the United States in the first three months, compared to $22.4 billion to mainland China.

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s investments in mainland China have dropped to their lowest level in more than 20 years, falling over 40% to $3 billion last year from the previous year, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Nonetheless, Taiwan’s investments in the United States increased to $9.6 billion by 2023.

Washington and Taipei reached a trade pact last year and are negotiating the next phase. US lawmakers have also sponsored legislation to abolish double taxes on Taiwanese enterprises and workers in the United States.

“Everything is motivated by … a desire to build Taiwan’s deterrent capability and their resilience, all in support of maintaining the status quo and deterring China from being tempted to take … action against Taiwan,” Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant secretary of state, stated.

TSMC, the world’s largest computer chip producer, announced last month that it will increase its US investments to $65 billion. The Biden administration promised incentives worth up to $6.6 billion, putting the company’s Arizona factories on track to create around one-fifth of the world’s most advanced chips by 2030.

Aside from its US investments, TSMC is investing in Japan, a major US ally. Foxconn, a Taiwanese firm best known as Apple’s main contractor, is expanding its production capacity in India, while Pegatron, another Taiwanese company that manufactures iPhone and computer components, is investing in Vietnam.

Last month, King Yuan Electronics Corp., a Taiwanese company that specializes in semiconductor testing and packaging, announced the sale of its $670 million investment in a venture in Suzhou, eastern China. KYEC highlighted geopolitics, the United States’ embargo on exporting sophisticated semiconductors to China, and Beijing’s policy of technological self-sufficiency.

“The ecological environment of semiconductor manufacturing in China has changed, and the market competition has become increasingly severe,” the company stated.

Taiwan Is Selling More To The US Than China In Major Shift Away From Beijing

Taiwan’s semiconductors, electronic components and computer equipment exports to the United States more than tripled from 2018 to about $37 billion last year. It’s not only technology: between 2018 and 2023, the island more than tripled its exports of tapioca and its replacement, important ingredients in boba milk tea, to the United States, and it’s also sending more fruits, tree nuts, and farmed fish.

The recent trade numbers show “the strategy from both Taiwan and the U.S. to reorient that trade in an effort to de-risk from China,” said Hung Tran, a nonresident senior scholar with the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center.

Taiwan’s share of exports to mainland China and Hong Kong declined from approximately 44% in 2020 to less than one-third in the first quarter of 2024. That was “a very big movement,” Tran added. “And I think that the share (of exports to mainland China and Hong Kong) will probably continue to decline.”

Since the 1990s, Beijing has attempted to balance its claim to the island with advantageous economic and trade policies, hoping to build stronger connections that would make it more difficult for Taiwan to break away.

When the independent-leaning Democratic Progressive Party took office in Taiwan in 2016, the new administration announced a policy to remove the island from the mainland while strengthening economic relations with other countries in the area, particularly Southeast Asia. Unhappy Beijing used its economic leverage to try to bring Taiwan to heel.

It has restricted mainland tourists’ travel to the island and stopped imports of Taiwanese seafood, fruits, and snacks. In 2021, due to biosecurity concerns, China prohibited Taiwan-grown pineapples, wreaking havoc on Taiwanese farmers whose exported fruit was almost entirely consumed on the mainland.

Taiwan Is Selling More To The US Than China In Major Shift Away From Beijing

According to Ralph Cossa, president emeritus of the Pacific Forum, a foreign policy research institute in Honolulu, Beijing’s activities have contributed to the island’s displacement.

Chinese President “Xi Jinping is tactically clever but strategically foolish in many of the decisions he has made; his loyalty tests on Taiwan businessmen and other heavy-handed business practices and decisions have been a major contributor to the success of Taiwan’s” policy to distance itself from China, he stated.

According to Cossa, this approach will continue under Lai Ching-te, the island’s new president.

SOURCE – (AP)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida – The Webb Space Telescope discovered the earliest known merger of black holes.

These two massive holes and their galaxies formed only 740 million years after the universe-creating Big Bang. Scientists claimed Thursday that they have made the furthest distant detection of merging holes ever.

Webb Telescope Uncovers Merger Of Two Massive Black Holes From Early Universe

A black hole is 50 million times bigger than our sun. The other is estimated to be similar in size but buried in dense gas, making it difficult to measure.

Until today, astronomers didn’t know how supermassive black holes got so huge.

Webb Telescope Uncovers Merger Of Two Massive Black Holes From Early Universe

The current findings, published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, imply that mergers explain how holes can expand quickly — “even at cosmic dawn,” according to lead author Hannah Ubler of the University of Cambridge.

“Massive holes have been shaping the evolution of galaxies from the very beginning,” Ubler stated.

Webb Telescope Uncovers Merger Of Two Massive Black Holes From Early Universe

Webb, the largest and most powerful observatory ever launched into space, will be the successor to NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope when it launches in 2021. The infrared observatory, a joint US-European initiative, scans the universe from one million miles (1.6 million kilometers) from Earth.

SOURCE – (AP)