PARIS: Walt Disney has decided to stop paying more than 100,000 workers from this week as it struggles to cope with losses amid coronavirus lockdowns.
Walt Disney operates theme parks and hotels in the US, Europe, and Asia. Stopping pay for almost half of its workforce will save Disney up to $500m (£400m) a month, according to the US newspaper. In the last three months of 2019, the entertainment group made an operating income of $1.4bn for its parks, experiences, and products.
Salary payments will be stopped also for most of the 17,000 staff at Disneyland Paris, who will be placed on France’s partial activity scheme. This allows companies to reduce staff hours or furlough workers.
Walt Disney, however, maintained that it will continue to provide full healthcare benefits for staff placed on unpaid leave and urged its US employees to apply for government benefits through the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package.
Last week, Walt Disney announced to lay-off its 43,000 workers amid its temporary closure because of the pandemic. The company also shuttered the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Disneyland and California Adventure in Anaheim, and Disneyland Paris Resort last month as the COVID-19 pandemic worsened.
The company has also announced that after the reopening of the theme parks, temperature checks of visitors will become part of its normal routine along with bag checks.
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