Disgruntled FL Firefighters Plan Picket at Disney

Visitors heading to Disney Springs for the Sunday opening of its Town Center section and its second parking garage may run into some disgruntled firefighters.

The Reedy Creek Fire Fighters Association Local 2117, which represents emergency workers serving Walt Disney World, plans to picket Sunday morning in and around the Springs' parking garages.

It will be the first time in decades the union has demonstrated on Disney property.

For decades, a provision in the union's labor agreement prohibited such protests. The provision was apparently put into the labor agreement in the 1970s, after firefighters demonstrated along a road leading into the Magic Kingdom.

The union won the right to picket again in 2013 during contract negotiations.

Union president Tim Stromsnes said this will be the first demonstration since the union won that right. The union pulled a permit for a demonstration once before but didn't follow through, he said.

Contract negotiations have stalled with Reedy Creek, the Disney-controlled government agency that employs firefighters and paramedics serving the resort. The two sides reached an impasse in negotiations last year. Firefighters and paramedics have been working without a contract for almost a year and a half. The two sides disagree about pay and insurance.

The opening of the shopping and entertainment district's second garage was a perfect opportunity, Stromsnes said.

"Here we are asking for peanuts, and Reedy Creek spent millions of millions of dollars on these parking garages, and they won't even work with me on a contract," he said.

Stromsnes said many of the picket signs will focus on the structure of Reedy Creek's government. Disney controls Reedy Creek because it owns most of the land in the taxing district.

Union representatives said Reedy Creek gave them a permit Friday allowing up to 100 people to demonstrate. The union applied for the permit May 6.

Disney referred questions to Reedy Creek.

Reedy Creek District Administrator John Classe said the union missed a deadline requiring 15 days' notice but that the paperwork allowing the demonstration was processed anyway.

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