Arbitrator Rules Against Patina Group at EPCOT’s Italy Pavilion Over Button Dispute

It’s a small win in a much larger ongoing fight for workers’ rights, but Patina Group restaurant workers are free once again to wear union buttons on shift. Patina Group Workers Free to Wear Union Buttons Back in December, supporters and members of UNITE HERE Local 737 – the union that represents workers from Walt Disney World Food & Beverage, Housekeeping, Patina Restaurant Group and other affiliated groups – held a rally and march to demand a good life for Patina Group restaurant workers, including a fair process to organize at nonunion Patina’s restaurants at Disney Springs and a strong new contract at Patina’s unionized restaurants in the EPCOT Italy Pavilion. These unionized workers from Tutto Italia, Tutto Gusto, and Via Napoli are in the midst of pressing for a contract that improves their lives and futures, including $8 raises over three years, free family health insurance, an improved pension, and a 20% automatic gratuity. In late February, some union workers at Italy Pavilion restaurants began wearing buttons signifying their membership in the UNITE HERE Local 737 union....