Union: Disney workers returning in coming weeks

work, Clinton said. Disney Vacation Club hotels and Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground are reopening June 22 and the theme parks return in July.

“With a focus on the health and wellness of our cast members and guests, we have worked with the unions on a thoughtful plan to bring thousands of our existing cast members back to work as soon as possible in a safe and responsible way,” Disney spokeswoman Andrea Finger said.

Some furloughed employees, such as Epcot custodian Ramon Rodriguez, are getting calls to go back before they received unemployment benefits from the state. Furloughs began April 19.

“Sometimes I’m angry. What am I supposed to do? Cry?” said Rodriguez, of Kissimmee, as he has struggled to navigate what many say is a confusing system.

Clinton said Disney is in need of employees to clean around ride queues and to take positions that maintain social distancing in the lines while guests await temperature checks to enter the theme parks.

The company doesn’t plan to bring back seasonal workers or resume the Disney College Program immediately, according to the union.

“If anyone thinks that college program workers are coming back anytime soon, they are mistaken,” Clinton said.

In mid-March, as the theme parks and resorts shut down, Disney abruptly suspended the Disney College Program, where young people work at Disney for a semester and live together in large apartment complexes.

Disney has not given an update yet on the status for the incoming Disney College Program class.

Also gone next month will be the international workers from Epcot’s World Showcase who went back home. They will be temporarily replaced by domestic workers, Clinton said. Disney said it hopes to eventually bring them back.

Employees will also need to staff Spaceship Earth, the ride inside Epcot’s iconic globe, since the ride’s rehabilitation is postponed indefinitely and will remain open, Clinton said.

Many workers are asking if their attractions will be open,

JOE BURBANK/AP Disney World will be bringing back thousands of furloughed workers in the next few weeks and may need to shuffle around some people to replace its college interns, a union leader says.