US Senator Elizabeth Warren has slammed Walt Disney Co for ‘enriching executives and investors’ while thousands of theme park workers are laid off.
Warren wrote to Disney Executive Chairman Bob Iger and CEO Bob Chapek seeking answers to a number of questions regarding the company’s executive pay, total wage costs for the company and whether Disney will pay the health-care costs of laid-off workers.
She demanded answers by 27 October.
"It appears that — prior to, and during the pandemic — Disney took good care of its top executives and shareholders — and now is hanging its front-line workers out to dry," Warren wrote.
Disney announced last month it would dismiss 28,000 workers at the theme park and cruise line businesses.
It represents about one-quarter of all workers employed at its domestic theme parks.
Warren noted Disney spent $47.9 billion on share buybacks from 2009 until 2018.
It also paid $5.4 billion on dividends in the past two years alone.
Dinsey hit back at Warren, saying the ‘misinformed letter contains a number of inaccuracies.’
Chairman and former CEO Bob Iger has faced criticism for years over his pay, notably from Abigail Disney,,granddaughter of co-founder Roy Disney.
Written by Ray Montgomery, US Editor
