What did I tell you? The layoffs were always coming. Today Disney chose to layoff nearly 30% of their workforce on the same day as the first presidential debate. Hoping, I am sure, to have the news of this drowned out by the news of that. 1/

Josh D'Amaro's "it's incredibly painful" reminds me of when I was a kid and my father was getting ready to spank me and he'd say "this is gonna hurt you more than it's gonna hurt me." It was bullshit then and it's even more bullshit now. 2/

The layoffs are apparently heavy on part-time workers and it should concern you that such a high percentage of their workforce is part time. That's because, like so many other companies relying on an hourly labor force, lots of shenanigans are used to prevent.3/

the hourly workers from working enough hours to qualify for things like childcare, health care, and 401k benefits. Most of their part-time workers are working second and some even third jobs just to keep their heads above water.4/

If Disney had spent more time in Gov Newsom's office arguing for an extension of unemployment benefits and more rent subsidies instead of opening the parks prematurely and in a way that would risk their employees' health, I 'd be a lot more comfortable with the loyalty 5/

to which they lay claim. I am so sad to see this. It will have serious consequences that management cannot even imagine. People without health care will die. People who are consistently undernourished will die of less serious illnesses because they are undernourished. 6/

Undernourished children will fail to attend school in an effective way. Parents will be too stressed to help them. Evictions will skyrocket, which means that homelessness will increase. Are you ready? Here it comes. Tragic. Preventable. 7/

If Disney had not spent down every penny of its cash on share buy-backs in 2019 (11.5 billion worth) perhaps there'd have been some dough on hand to ensure that even at a partial level they could continue to keep some of these workers on until things return to normal. 8/

Disney management talks about the "family" that works at Disney, and about the "magic" they make together. I guess that is easier when things are going well. The real magic will have to be made by the men and women who are trying to feed their families without salaries. 9/