‘Grossly underpaid’: Disney workers demand higher wages as living costs soar

Employees at Florida's Magic Kingdom say paychecks have not kept up even as company records $3.6bn operational profit

Earl Penson has worked for 11 years as a food handler, managing and distributing deliveries for the Disney World theme park in Orlando, Florida, but makes just 50 cents more an hour than a new employee starting at Disney's current minimum wage set at $15 an hour.

He works over 40 hours a week at the so-called Magic Kingdom", starting work around 2am, working anywhere from eight to 10 hours or more, and takes side gigs as an electrician to make extra money.