More layoffs at the Walt Disney Co. implies all the more terrible news for Polk County as it keeps on having Tampa Bay’s most noteworthy joblessness rate.
In a recording Wednesday with the U.S. Protections and Exchange Commission, The Walt Disney Co. reported it intends to lay off 4,000 additional representatives by 2021.
That will carry its absolute labor force decrease to 32,000. It declared 28,000 cutbacks in September.
A large number of the cutbacks have been in the Parks, Experiences and Products division, which incorporates the Orlando parks.
37 thousand Disney workers are at present on leave of absence starting at early October “as a result of COVID-19’s impact on our businesses,” the recording peruses.
Disney could make a further move including “implementing additional furloughs or reductions in force.”
“You got thousands of people laid off. We’ve run out of unemployment benefits. The little bit of extra you got was gone. That went pretty quick. So now they’re trying to struggle to make ends meet,” said Ed Chambers, United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1625 President.
Chambers, who is based out of Polk County, speaks to a large number of Disney cast individuals.
He has seen direct the effect the pandemic has had on a generally reliable focal Florida industry.
“Our union has made large contributions to the food banks in central Florida to help those guys get through but eventually, something’s gotta change,” he said.
In May, Polk County’s joblessness rate crested at simply over 19%.
The upper east corner of the area has been the hardest in light of the fact that a significant number of its occupants drive to the travel industry center toward the east.
“Polk County is cheaper to live here than it is Orange or Osceola. A lot of the folks they live here and then commute up to the Orlando area to work,” said Kelly Callihan, Davenport City Manager, this summer.
Most recent information from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity shows Polk County’s joblessness rate has bounced back to 7.3% however it remains the most elevated in Tampa Bay.