Last week I wrote a story about how I was hearing from sources that Universal Orlando was furloughing team members again. Now the Orlando Sentinel is confirming what I said 11 days later reporting that Universal Orlando reported 5,389 furloughed employees. I was told that the furloughs started on September 4 and that’s the date Universal Orlando notified the state.
In the letter to officials Scot LaFerte, Universal Orlando’s Senior VP of Human Resources, wrote:
“Universal Orlando continues to experience unprecedented challenges with the economic effects likely to continue into next year. As a full recovery will take time, the Company has had to make very difficult decisions.”
Right now the furloughs have no definitive end, just until “further notice.”
Of those furloughed 416 are attraction team members, 284 are cashiers, 104 are actors, 450 are cooks, around 40 were show/special effects techs and the remaining furloughs happened in other positions in and around the resort.
This comes after they already had a bunch of furloughs in the hotels and some still remain closed. I’m hearing this was just the first wave, that more waves of furloughs can still come if the park attendance and bookings don’t pick up more.
Theme parks and tourist hot spots in Orlando are being strongly impacted by the pandemic shut-downs. Many locations are reopened but the tourism industry isn’t expected to return for quite some time with some analysts saying they think locations like Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando not seeing significant rebounds until 2022 or 2023. Some are saying that 2021 will see improvement, but it could still be a loss, but only time will tell.
I’m sorry for all those who just got furloughed or furloughed again. Hopefully the resurrection of a modified Halloween Horror Nights can happen and they can bring in crowds so that employees can return.
What do you think? Comment and let us know!
Source: The Orlando Sentinel, A Friend.
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