The eight UNITE HERE members fasting in protest against the Disney Corporation are fittingly camped out along Disneyland drive - the main road taking visitors to their hotels - Paradise Pier and Grand California among them.  They are protesting Disney’s relentless push for ever greater profits despite Disney’s $3 billion profit last year.  Such pressure ends up on the backs, shoulders, knees and bodies of the Disney staff who are pressed to work ever harder and quicker.

But they’ve worked the past 2 years with no contract in part because Disney whose image rests on a much promoted and supposedly family friendly image wants to end the paid family medical coverage that workers won in previous contracts.  This Disney strategy will force these mainly low-wage workers to choose between paying up to $500 per month toward family healthcare premiums or toward other necessities such as food, shelter and clothing for their children.

Supporters stop by at all hours of the day and night including some who decide to join the fast for the day.  I joined the group Friday night and stayed here til Sunday night.

My name is Jim Clifford and I work at Kaiser Permanente and I’m one of the 2300 healthcare professionals, 85 percent of whom just voted to form our own National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW).  We along with many other locals were taken over in an undemocratic grab for power by SEIU International’s Andrew Stern, as formidable a foe as Disney or any Corporate entity ruthlessly in search of ever more power.  SEIU has raided UNITE HERE locals as well, so UNITE HERE members are quite supportive of us, showing support in many ways including giving us space at their meeting hall whenever we need it. NUHW members have also attended UNITE HERE rallies at Disney.  Thus I came to be invited to join the UNITE HERE fast. Kaiser nurses from NUHW and UNAC check on the fasters twice daily. This help is made even more crucial in that one faster had to leave the effort due to elevated blood pressure and another had to be seen by a doctor for chest pain as cheers of “Si se puede!” accompanied her into the waiting ambulance.

Day and night all manner of vehicles roll up and down in front of our tents - 18 wheeled semi trailered trucks, Disney food service vehicles, security vans, and OC’s flashiest and noisiest of exhaust systems which greet us along with many horn honks as we wave back - often times we wave tiredly and unseen from our tents long after midnite when traffic continues unabated. The Disney monorail floats visitors over our heads as we fast below.

Working in healthcare, NUHW members see the effects of healthcare benefit cuts. It drives families to avoid preventive care costs and thus end up in the ER, our most expensive form of treatment and in a much graver condition, more difficult to treat and with more serious outcomes.

Fasting is a rather rare form of political protest in the US compared to, for example, Latin America where we may recall human rights lawyer Jennifer Harbury fasted in protest against the US backed government genocide of indigenous peoples, or in Northern Ireland with Bobby Sands or Ghandi in India.

But wherever a protest fast is done, along with its inherently strong political statement, it depends for its effectiveness on the depth of broader community support. It was thus heartening to see Tom Morello of Rage against the Machine and the Reactives bring a crowd of hundreds here to the protest site yesterday and daily rallies show a strong base of empathy for the fasters and their coworkers here at Disney.

I am proud to have had the opportunity to show my support for my fellow union members by joining the fast for a few days. You can show your support as well - the workers here ask that everyone who can sign a pledge in support of this effort to preserve happy and healthy workplaces - you can do so here.

Source: DisneyisUnfaithful.