Firefighters confronted DeSantis’ governing board on Wednesday. “The removal of this benefit takes away, for some, their entire reason for working here."

  • RaincoatsGeorge@lemmy.zip
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    1 year ago

    Make no mistake this is a case of ‘the guy we voted for to Fuck with the people we don’t like is going after us instead’. Needle dick Ron laid waste to the state of Florida so he could play politics and the people of Florida got exactly what they wanted.

    Well now the state is worse than it’s ever been and ol meatball is getting absolutely clowned on in the national spotlight. Eat shit dickhead, you thought you were the natural next choice but that’s all over.

    • Staccato@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Orange County, where Disney World is located, went for the D candidate 53-46. Don’t blame them for the malignant human tumor their state foisted on them.

      • RaincoatsGeorge@lemmy.zip
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        But Disney themselves donated plenty to R candidates for years. The state and its inhabitants are finding out what that gets you.

        I’ve spent far more time in the sunshine state than i ever would wish on anyone, Im not saying everyone in the state is brainwashed but there are plenty of people who cheer on as their state is imploding.

        • Astroturfed@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          But you see, Disney made the mistake of going woke. How dare they cast non-white or any gay characters in anything. Next they’ll tell us women should be able to vote. It’s a slippery slope.

        • Blooper@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          We have to acknowledge that Republicans have lots to offer if you’re a mega corp.

          1. They pick up the phone for you and your lobbyists - day or night
          2. They lower your tax burden
          3. They functionally killed unionization - allowing you to pay your executives enormous sums of money while the majority of your workforce struggles financially.
          4. If you’re somehow unable to outright buy their legislative agenda with bribes campaign donations, they can instead be forced to comply with subtle threats to leak details of their various homosexual escapades to the media.
          5. They tend to have absolutely no morals - which is great for your shareholders.
        • Staccato@lemmy.world
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          True, but I bet you that the 53 isn’t able to do much about that 46. At least nothing that fits in the bounds of a civil democracy.

      • bitsplease@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Wait, Disney world is also in a county called Orange? That’s pretty funny, I never knew that

        • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Yeah, Orlando is Orange county. Florida was the largest producer in the U.S. California is recently passing them up due to issues. Between the two it something like 95% of all the citrus grown in the U.S.

          That said, if you want a sweeter, juicier orange, get an orange from Florida. If you want a longer shelf life orange, go with California.

    • DarkWasp@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      We don’t know who this person voted for. They could be totally against Desantis and never voted for him like millions of other people did as well. I certainly didn’t vote for the premiere of my province who is corrupt and screwing us all over constantly.

      • Dead_or_Alive@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I know a guy in the Reedy Creek fire department. He is a hard core Republican. When Desantis took over the board he didn’t think it would be a bad thing.

        I like the guy and have known him for years so it’s sad to see it go this way but you get the government you votes for.

      • Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Firefighters in Florida are about 90% conservatives. Even if this specific firefighter is not a conservative, his complaint is shared by his conservative coworkers. The conservatives are bitching and moaning about the results of their conservatism.

      • OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        I certainly didn’t vote for the premiere of my province who is corrupt and screwing us all over constantly.

        You must be Ontarian! Hi neighbour.

  • IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    My wife’s grandparents lived literally down the road from a theme park (not in Florida) and during the summers especially both vehicle and foot traffic on their street could be nuts. The theme park would give out a number of free passes to all the residents that lived within a certain distance as a way to apologize for having to put up with all the traffic. My wife and I used those free passes a couple times before her grandparents passed.

    DeSantis and his cronies are major a**holes for taking a perk like this away from the very people who risk their own lives to keep others safe.

  • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Will they have to purchase tickets in the future if there is a fire in the Disney Resort? /s

  • babypigeon@lemmy.world
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    They’re spending 6.4 million taxpayer dollars on suing and countersuing Disney between this year and the next. While taking away a popular , family friendly benefit costing 2;5 million per year.

    DeSantis is a legit Disney villain. They could make an animated film featuring him as a comically stupid bad guy.

    • constantokra@lemmy.one
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      1 year ago

      Meanwhile, he passed a bill to strip schools of funding by giving new vouchers to parents for their kids ‘education’, including homeschool. The money can be spent on a number of things outside school… one if which is Florida theme park admission!

      • Drewman@lemmy.world
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        Wait, how does this work? I’ve got 3 kids in a semi private school. I say that because it’s technically a public school, but it’s through a lottery system and admission is hard to get. One of the best schools in the northeast Florida. Am I eligible for that voucher as well?

        • grue@lemmy.ml
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          Your kids’ school is a “public charter school,” not a “semi private school.”

          The purpose of those vouchers is to undermine schools like the one your kids are attending.

        • constantokra@lemmy.one
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          I don’t think so. It’s if you’re not in a publicly funded school. It’s meant to offset the cost of whatever you are doing to educate your kid if it’s not a public school. But knowing desantis, the goal is more likely to refund public schools.

          Weirdly, I think it’s like 10 or 12k, and you are eligible if you homeschool through flvs, but then you have to pay for flvs. But it’s only around 4k a year. Kind of makes sense, because you’re supposed to have access as a flvs student to all the extracurriculars and clubs and things at any local public school, but in practice the schools almost uniformly refuse. So you can use the balance to pay for classes and clubs and educational materials.

  • wrath-sedan@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    “Oh my god quick come help there’s a fire at DisneyWorld!”
    “Jeeeeez sure wish I could, but…”

  • Drusas@kbin.social
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    It looks like this is a $1,400 per year perk. That’s really expensive if you’re considering buying it out of pocket, but not a huge amount in terms of salary. This should never be a make it or break it kind of benefit. Negotiate to make an extra $1,400 next year and buy it out of your own pocket.

    Edit: just adding that I am incredibly anti-DeSantis, but this is a nothing burger.

    • lgstarn@kbin.social
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      No I don’t think their perk is $1400. If it is a Cast Member Silver Pass, they can get three people plus themselves in to any park every day of the year for free. If you have family come over it’s more than $100 per person per day. These tickets always include a Park Hopper option, adding another $40-50 in cost. If you use this perk 20 times per year for 3+1 people (which is definitely within reason), that would be more than $8000 and up to $12000 if you include the Park Hopper option. Maybe you could get that cheaper with season passes, but those are tied to an individual. $1400 is way, way off .

      • PaupersSerenade@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Considering this quote from the article; ‘Firefighter Aaron Clark, whose father was also a district firefighter, choked up as he recounted how growing up his dad took him to the parks using the passes and how he now does the same thing with his three daughters.’ I think you’re spot on. They also mention discounts in the park which was a part of a cast member badge. When I worked in the parks I could have sworn they also had the blue ID (as opposed to green for 3rd party vendor), but that was a while ago.

      • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        They also bought 400 passes for all of the RCID employees, so they probably got a significant discount. Also considering Disney pays 86% of the taxes that fund RCID, it might have been cheaper to give away the passes and keep the tax money. Even at $10k a person (an absurdly high estimate), $4 million is a drop in the Disney bucket.

    • shastaxc@lemmy.world
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      In addition to the other person who replied to you, I also wanted to point out that the firefighters did not say they were only firefighters for that Disney pass perk, just that it was the main reason they worked in that specific location. If they didn’t get that perk, I’m sure some of them have other stations closer to their home or would prefer to move somewhere less crowded or with better traffic on their daily commute. The Disney to I Drive area of Orlando is traffic/tourist hell. I sure as hell wouldn’t want to work there without some special benefits.

    • Riyria@sopuli.xyz
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      It’s clear that you don’t understand Disney Adults. Even if it were just a $1,400 per year perk, the people that work there solely because of the perk that allows them to go to Disney properties whenever they want will have just lost their incentive. It’s entirely likely that some of these people have willingly turned down positions at fire departments or in the industries that require their experience for the explicit reason that they enjoy the access to disney their job provides. Without that, there would be little incentive to stay even if they could get a $1400 bonus.

  • chilicheeselies@lemmy.world
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    Honestly, I kind of agree with this. The state was paying for these passes, not Disney. Thats an inscestuous relationship between the state and private enterprise. It should never have been that way in the firstplace.

    The offset of 1400 in wage increases seems a bit low to compensate, but if its enough to buy a season pass then no harm no foul.

    Disney can supply the free passes if they want to; let them foot the bill

    • Tathas@programming.dev
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      That’s the price of 1 annual pass. So if you have a spouse and 3 kids, that leaves you a fair bit in the hole.

    • Mirshe@lemmy.world
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      He’s willing to call a truce against Disney directly. He can still attack them in more plausibly-deniable ways.

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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    It’s callled blowing you was too soon. There was a path that he was on. Took a bad turn and fucked his future in politics. You hate love to see it.

  • AnonTwo@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Just wondering, but why was Florida providing this in the first place?

    Was this provided by the board that Florida took over from Disney, or were they just always providing it?

    • lgstarn@kbin.social
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      This is a standard perk for Disney employees. Reddy Creek providing it to the fire firefighters was basically an acknowledgement that the fire fighters were Disney employees. Disney was explicitly in charge of Reddy Creek so that made some sense. Desantis ripped Reddy Creek away from Disney to win political points, and is now hurting the firefighters, apparently just for fun, in his continued vendetta.

      • shastaxc@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I’m sure Disney could just keep giving them those passes for free if they felt like it

        • MeetInPotatoes@lemmy.ml
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          This. Surprised this is so far down. I’d expect it also, this fool is giving Disney a chance to be the good guys again at no actual cost to them. It’s handing Disney a no-brainer PR win.

          • DancingYetiCrab@lemm.ee
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            Good PR is worth more when there is bad news first. If Disney does this sight unseen it’s worth less than giving out passes next week after this story gets around.

    • BOMBS@lemmy.world
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      it’s a common benefit provided by a lot of employers in the area. i’ve been to Disney for free more than i have been paying, yet i never rated this benefit. rather, someone that did would get me in instead.

  • downpunxx@kbin.social
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    well, if free parking passes were the main reason for being a firefighter, well, jeeze, i dunno what to say about that, except they shouldn’t be. either disney covers the parking fees for when they’re on duty, if that’s even an issue, or these guys gotta get another gig

    • BowtiesAreCool@lemmy.world
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      It’s free “Park Passes” Not “Free Park” Passes. These were free passes given to employees to be a me to enter the park with their families for free.

    • Car@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      Eh, might not be that black and white.

      Who’s to say that these firefighters chose the Disney district over a neighbor because of the better benefits? Maybe they have young kids who they want to be able to enjoy the parks on a regular basis without spending so much. Maybe this benefit is worth an extra 30 minute commute each day. Lots of reasons to chose one job over another.

      Let’s not just shit on everybody who loses a nice thing. I doubt these people are fighting fires solely for the paycheck.

        • steltek@lemm.ee
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          Except they’re basically enacting rules against accepting gifts like this, saying it’s unethical. Like a bribe.

          • MeetInPotatoes@lemmy.ml
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            Ahh, their fuckery knows no bounds. My mom asked me what I thought of DeSantis today. I’m like…do you have an hour?

      • Drusas@kbin.social
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        Then make that perk part of their pay and not free passes. Then it would benefit all of the firefighters, not just the ones who want to take their kids to Disney.

        • Car@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          I think that’s a valid argument, but it’s more expensive for Disney.

          Let’s say you run a company and offer all of your 50 employees free park passes valued at $1500 for the public. Just giving them the passes costs you little. There’s some administrative overhead and the costs of park usage, but those are mostly spread across your million or so visitors paying for park access.

          You can alternatively give the 50 employees the value of the passes. That’s $75k. Could be the price of another firefighter or two part timers. Maybe three interns. It’s a cost that could maybe be applied elsewhere.

          Or the executives split a bonus. Who knows.

      • downpunxx@kbin.social
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        yeah, i’m not gonna lose sleep over these guys losing their freaking parking passes. desantis is hurting so many others so much worse on the regular, i’m gonna save my emoting for the fascism, thanks

    • gamer@lemm.ee
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      Idk if you were being sarcastic or not but either way thanks for the laugh, that was funny.