Disney No Longer Employer of Last Resort for Hispanics

It used to be that many Hispanics who moved to Orlando considered Walt Disney World an employment safety net. If all efforts failed--if the dream job didn't materialize--they could always work at Disney as an attraction worker, at the turnstiles, cleaning up, at the restaurants, etc.

I can't tell you how many people would say this to me. And I'm not just talking people with limited education. I interviewed engineers and lawyers who got their start in Central Florida at Disney, until something better came along. It was considered a quick and easy way to get into the job market and start earning some money.

With this week's news that Disney laid off 1,400 jobs theme park jobs in Florida in the past month or so, that's no longer the case. Most of the positions affected were executive, management, professional and administrative, according to the Orlando Sentinel. But with visitors and revenue down, the climate for the rank-and-file attraction workers is not sunny.

Now, when Latinos come to Florida, they cannot count on Disney as a last resort. And, frankly, most everything else has dried up too. The twin engines of Florida's economy--tourism and construction--are sputtering.

Hispanics who plan to move to Orlando had better have a solid plan of action because what was once considered an employment safety net is now broken.

La mancha del platano

While in Puerto Rico a week or so ago, I visited several supermarkets and discovered that all meat, produce, seafood and fish was labeled by country of origin. Not all places or states have this really cool feature yet. It's an eyeopener.

I was a little shocked to discover how little of the food consumed or sold on the island actually came from the island! Of course, the Puerto Rico Independence Party has made hay of this for many, many years, stating that Puerto Ricans import all or most of their food on an island that is fertile terrain for agriculture. This truth doesn't hit you until you see it on a black and white supermarket sign.

There I was standing in Pueblo supermarket confronted with:

• Sierra fish from China
• Mandarinas from Chile
• Platanos from the Dominican Republic
• Gandules from Ecuador (who knew!)
• Oranges from the United States

Only a lonely mango--forced ripe at that because mangos aren't in season on the island until May or so!-- was from Puerto Rico. That is the sad state of agricultural affairs on the island, and it was a long time in the making. Puerto Rico no longer grows any crop in sustainable proportions.

I grew up at a time when trucks loaded with sugar cane would lumber along the roads, dropping cane stalks all over the place. There were guarapo stands on the highways. Pineapple from Puerto Rico is delicious. There is a crossing in Lajas on the way to Boqueron that my family long ago labeled "el cruce de las pinas," where you could buy the plumpest pineapples grown on a farm across the road. Thankfully, the stand and the farm are still there. But for how long?

I am all for food labeling not only because I want to know where my food comes from (you can guess I won't be eating any Sierra fish from China for Good Friday!), but also because full disclosure can help open our eyes to global reality. La mancha del platano comes from somewhere else now.