Union depicts Disney confidentiality rule as unfair

Orlando, Fla. – — A union representing Walt Disney World performers is challenging a policy forbidding them from revealing online or in print media what characters they portray.

The company has long discouraged its entertainers from advertising which princesses or animated animals they play in the theme parks.

Teamsters representative Donna-Lynne Dalton said the company has now put in writing that employees are not to disclose online or in any kind of media — including social media, print publications or TV — what characters they play. Disney calls it “proprietary information.” Over the past couple of weeks, she said, workers have had to acknowledge online that they understand the rules.

That’s intrusive, said Dalton, recording secretary and business agent for the Teamsters Local 385.

“They don’t work for the CIA,” she said.

Dalton said the Teamsters filed a grievance with Disney’s labor relations department last week.

She said the union will file an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board.

The issue was never negotiated as part of the workers’ contract agreement last year, she said.

“Our expectation for cast members to uphold character integrity has never changed,” Disney spokesman Bryan Malenius said. Disney did not have further comment.

More than 1,200 workers at Disney greet guests dressed as characters, Dalton said. They include “fur characters” such as Winnie the Pooh, in outfits that cover the performers completely, and “face characters” such as Snow White or Cinderella.

They appear in everything from meet-and-greets to parades. Disney wants to make sure nothing shatters the illusion that the characters stepped right out of the movies. There has long been an expectation that they would not allow themselves to be seen wearing only half a costume, for example, or to reveal to children at the park that they are really actors.

“From Disney’s point of view, fantasy’s real,” said Lee Cockerell, former executive vice president of Disney World operations. “You don’t want to start disappointing kids and having this out there.”

Not revealing identities is “kind of one of these professional things that people do,” said Cockerell, who retired in 2006. “I really don’t know if it was in writing or not, or just talked about by your trainer.”

Dalton said workers know they need to preserve the Disney magic. But telling them they can’t post anything about their identities, she said, is a blanket ban that takes things too far.

“Clearly, it is saying they cannot do something on their off time,” she said.

Dalton said workers are wondering if they could be disciplined if family members posted such information, or if a picture they shared with a friend ended up online.

She is also wondering if Disney entertainers would get in trouble if they used the information on their resumes to get other entertainment jobs, she said.