Outsourcing comes home at Disney

[Robert Adams]

HAS ANYONE ELSE READ THIS YET? This is a new twist!


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/04/us/last-task-after-layoff-at-disney-train-foreign-replacements.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

I'm almost speechless. Guess I shouldn't be so naive or surprised at the level of greed at a place like Disney, but sure is counter to the culture they like you to believe exists.
This just creeps me out! How incredulous and totally offensive to me as an American citizen. I feel bad for the laid off workers through no fault of their own or more like because of their success from what you read.

That's it for me, I'm speaking with my wallet, NO more Disney vacations for us.

[craigster59]

Disney is all about making money. Pretty soon you'll need to take out a loan to visit "The Happiest Place On Earth".
Disney raises ticket prices for U.S. theme parks - how far off will $100 a day be for Disneyland? - The Orange County Register

[widebody911]

That's happened at my company several times. Companies claim there is a shortage of qualified tech people, but what the really mean is there is a shortage of cheap qualified tech people.

[nostatic]

Disney is one of the most disliked companies amongst "creatives" in this town. It is somewhat of a rite-of-passage in certain fields (especially content creation), and a necessary evil in others. In the end, all of the major studios are about money, but Disney tends to be especially aggressive and litigious.

[scottmandue]

When I was temping as a field service tech I did some computer work on site at the Disney studios.
I asked the guy in charge if he could get me a job.
He said" "you don't want to work here."

[Porsche-O-Phile]

They're a Fortune 500. They know how to run a business - and it IS a business.

[MRM]

Originally Posted by nostatic

. . . Disney tends to be especially aggressive and litigious.

You got any contacts there?

[tabs]

I didn't have to read the whole article for it to want to make me cry. I have seen this kind of thing coming for about 30 years...the decline of the American MC. Your simply too highly paid to be competitive in the global wage market. So you lose your job and you become poor once again. U get to go over to MC D's and get a minimum wage job at Mickey D's or better yet Wally World...Aisle 7 for the tooth paste...

And for the well inured (paid) among you...FK YOU your day is acomin as well....cause if you don't have people who can afford to buy your product, you don't sell product and you are out of a job as well...sellin apples on the corner or jumpin out the window...when you suddenly become poor one day..in the blink of an eye...a snap of the fingers... Any of you follow FED monetary policy..now tell me it ain't so? It is all about history and history tells you that shyte happens...all too frequently.

Civilizations (systems) become bloated, inept and top heavy and then they crash and burn..exactly where do ya think we are at on that graph? But I digress...

The American MC is dead and gone, a page in the history books. All that is left of the prosperous America that we once knew is the smoke and mirrors that we see on the flickering screen in the Living Room. As much as so many tell you or still think* nothing is gona bring it back..as they say you can never go home again for time has moved on and the place you once knew has changed..

* it seems that everyday that passes fewer and fewer people think that it can be turned around. The irony is that everyday the passes the hole is dug just a bit deeper...all in an effort to keep the music playing for another day. Everyday that music becomes a bit more frantic...

[dennis in se pa]

It is a business - yes. But to use this system to hire cheap imported labor to replace Americans is wrong. "Wrong" does not matter to big business, I know. If it were me I think I put piss in my seat a little in the days before left.

[tabs]

Why do you Boyz stay so locus specific and don't look at the broader implications?

[tabs]

Why would you stay to train your replacement. When you impart your knowledge to your competitor for a job you put yourself at a disadvantage.

[tabs]

I have ALWAYS said that I will only owe LOYALTY to a corporation when they will lower their corporate flag to half mast and give everybody a half a day off with pay to go to my funeral. Otherwise I owe them nothing.

[varmint]

i'd like to say "hi" and "suck it" to all my friends back at screen cartoonists guild local 839.

[930addict]

Originally Posted by craigster59

Disney is all about making money. Pretty soon you'll need to take out a loan to visit "The Happiest Place On Earth".
Disney raises ticket prices for U.S. theme parks - how far off will $100 a day be for Disneyland? - The Orange County Register

No kidding. We'll be there in two weeks. The cost? $4000 for four of us. Not my idea of a vacation but had to take the kids at least once. Kids don't know so shhhhhh.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by 930addict

No kidding. We'll be there in two weeks. The cost? $4000 for four of us. Not my idea of a vacation but had to take the kids at least once. Kids don't know so shhhhhh.

No you don't...where is it written in stone? Take them to one of the National Parks..4K can be better spent on buying the mortgage down...stupid Americans...

[flipper35]

Disney Land is one of the few places I will not step foot in ever again.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by tabs

Why would you stay to train your replacement. When you impart your knowledge to your competitor for a job you put yourself at a disadvantage.

In examples I've seen, it's a condition of getting any sort of severance. When faced with an immediate boot in the ass or a few more weeks or months of pay, most people will take the extra pay.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by tabs

cause if you don't have people who can afford to buy your product, you don't sell product and you are out of a job as well...

I've been saying that for years, but the perpetual answer seems to be "emerging markets" Translation: American CEOs don't GAFF about laying off all of the American workers and replacing them with those from 3rd-world countries because they assume those 3rd-world countries will become the next customer base. They're willing to transfer knowledge and technology overseas if it boosts their profits this quarter. But there's another shoe waiting to drop: once these guys in India/China/etc have the technology and know-how, they can flat out cut the Americans out of the loop entirely.

[930addict]

Originally Posted by widebody911

In examples I've seen, it's a condition of getting any sort of severance. When faced with an immediate boot in the ass or a few more weeks or months of pay, most people will take the extra pay.

Happened to my bro-in-law at EMC. They moved his entire group to India. Six months later they tried to put the team back together because of quality issues.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by dennis in se pa

It is a business - yes. But to use this system to hire cheap imported labor to replace Americans is wrong.

It's not just wrong, its short sighted. When you produce a mass-market product that your own employees (and in this case ex-employees) can't afford to buy, you aren't going to stay in business forever. Where does Disney expect its customers to get the money to go to its movies and attend its theme parks, their jobs at WalMart?