What are they thinking ?!

Is this why when I go to a certain Gazebo type food stand near the Gemini and order some Fries and a Soda the kind and friendly gentleman behind the counter does not say ONE WORD to me the whole transaction?

Detroit Basketball said:
Is this why when I go to a certain Gazebo type food stand near the Gemini and order some Fries and a Soda the kind and friendly gentleman behind the counter does not say ONE WORD to me the whole transaction?

Well ... What do you expect him to say when he is now getting less than minimum wage? You should be lucky if he even cares enough to get up and take the order!

So now that they are paying the employies less, will they pass the savings on to you and me?... I think not.

I can't wait to go to the park and try and order a burger and fries from someone that does not speak english and has a bad attatude because he is making less than minnimum wage.

Oh wait....I don't buy food at the park anymore anyways. It's way too expensive and it tastes like crap.

You know, I agree with everything you've said except for that first point. If you consider your safety-related job brainless, remind me to stay away from Ripcord and Skyscraper.

SkyScraper is painfully easy to operate. It takes all of about 2 practice tries to get the hang of the restraints, and driving it is stepping on a pedal and moving a joystick.

RipCord is obviously a lot more involved, and there's a lot of training for that ride, but even operating that isn't too difficult. They definitely look complicated to the common person, but seriously, it's not that difficult.

For real, have you seen some of the people that run Skycoasters at parks? I'd take the dumbest person at Rip Cord over the smartest person at Billy Bob's Swings & Things in the Dells.

I work for Disney, and the pay is about the same for College Program kids.

It's really sad.....

With the number of companies going out of business, they might not have as tough a time filling positions this summer as some might believe. Whether it's legal or not is another question.

99er said:
For real, have you seen some of the people that run Skycoasters at parks? I'd take the dumbest person at Rip Cord over the smartest person at Billy Bob's Swings & Things in the Dells.

I still like the fact that the Skycoaster employees at Kennywood were shocked we had so many site controllers because they could barely get two people to pass the test.

I think you all are getting lost in the "legality" argument. I think that is a moot point. I don't care if they are breaking the law or not, quite frankly.

It is a matter of the type of employee they want representing their company. Sure, the guy at McDonald's is making minimum wage too. But, your meal at McDonalds costs $3 and you are going back again and again regardless of the treatment of the cashier or if there was a mistake with your order.

Your meal at Cedar Point is going to cost you $10...and there is a better chance your McDonald's meal is going to be better than your CP meal. So, well, CP better do SOMETHING to distinguish themselves. Are they selling an experience that includes the interaction with the employees? Or, are the employees a unfortunate necessity of business.

Let's say the average employee works 60 hours a week for 20 weeks a summer. One employee works 1200 hours per summer. Let's say they have 4,000 employees. Those employees are working 4,800,800 hours. If Cedar Point paid each employee $.35 cents more per hour than that would cost the company $1,600,000 for the summer.

What Kinzel and the gang are saying is that the interaction you have with the representatives of his company throughout the day...the same interaction that may be the difference between you returning again during the summer (or ever for that matter), is NOT worth a little over $1.5 million.

Oh, and Dick's compensation last year: $3,242,968.

It is short sighted thinking but it isn't exclusive to Dick. The entire industry acts like this. On the one hand they worry about kids staying home and playing Wii instead of coming to their parks. On the other hand, they ignore what could be one of their GREATEST assets, their most important resource....their staff.

Oh, on one good Saturday Cedar Point will make well over $10 million on gate receipts alone.

kirk06 said:
So by your logic, those who don't agree with the rate should just leave and those who either don't care or won't speak up will just ride it out and take it how CP gives it.

That's generally how the real world works, yes. I'm not saying you shouldn't complain, but there are a significant number of seasonals, good workers I suspect, that bitch and moan year after year and keep going back. It hurts to give up something you care about, but come on man, look out for yourself first.

I guess that's the point. If CP continues to have enough applicants to fill their talent pool, they won't do anything but the minimum wage.

Its the same with their hotel prices. I've seen plenty of complaints about it, but they also have 99%+ occupancy. There is no reason to lower prices when you are selling out at your current prices.

^Couldn't have said it better myself, Jeff. I would love to go back again, but I can't justify it in any way that makes sense to me because the pay is crap and the living conditions are a small step above 3rd World. And I know I'm not the only one. Every year they lose people who have been there multiple seasons and are hard workers and replace them with more and more internationals or deadbeats from the inner cities who wouldn't know a hard days work if it punched them in the face. I'm gonna love seeing the workers in about 10 years.

So wait, the bonus is only $.35 per hour worked now??? Except for bonus weekends?

Back in the day (my day, being 2001-2002) wasn't it $1 an hour?

If I were being mistreated by my superiors, or just plain old exhausted, the promise of a $.35 an hour bonus would NOT keep me there. A $1.00 might.

To everyone here that's all worked up...

Someone here hit it on the head earlier about the contracts. Anyone can sign a contract that states how much they will be paid, and as long as the company they are signing it for agrees with the terms, then it is accepted and is legal. How do you think the car guys are working for $1.00 this year? That's way less than the legal limits.

To the one that posted about the "real world"... CP is just like the real world! Everyone is always looking out for themselves- The TL's and Sups are trying to cover their rear ends, and all of the "red tags" are out there trying to move up and make themselves, and their work ethic, known to the people that make decisions about the future. And about the working 60+ hours per week, (my personal high was 91 in one week) you do that in the "real world"... when I'm sitting at home, I am planning the next day out, add in the commute time and "business lunches", it all adds up to 60 hours a week, easily!

Look, companies try to "take care of their employees" but the truth is that not many do. When I was at the park, and a couple of you know what I'm saying, I would do anything for my crew to try and have a positive influence in my crew members lives while they were there- I really enjoyed the job, and the pay is not why I was there, but didn't come back because I found a job in the "real world."

But the "real world" has proven to be even more harsh than CP. A lot of claws are out there, and very few opportunities to advance in this economy or that actually pan out to what is advertised, and companies who answer to share holders and a board of directors, all care about one thing: THE BOTTOM LINE. They don't care about bonuses for employees or severance packages (trust me) when they have to lay hard working people off. This is why Cedar Point has done what any company would do in their situation, which is get employees to sign contracts so that they can legally get away with spending as little money as possible, so that the people in charge can have a bigger chunk of change at the end of the day.

When you work at CP, you might "work" there for the money, but once you're there, the only reason you keep working is for the experiences and friendships that you face everyday.

I disagree with how much they are paying, but I am just trying to show everyone that they are doing what any business would do.

smanrolltide said:
To everyone here that's all worked up...

Someone here hit it on the head earlier about the contracts. Anyone can sign a contract that states how much they will be paid, and as long as the company they are signing it for agrees with the terms, then it is accepted and is legal. How do you think the car guys are working for $1.00 this year? That's way less than the legal limits.

Just because a contract is created and signed does not always make it legally binding when it can be contested in a court of law. The Judiciary is given the responsibility to sort that out. Whatever the final decision is may however not be quick and "fair". The wheels of justice turn VERY slow.

There is no exemption in Federal Law covering Seasonal Amusement Park workers, the federal exemptions cover workers in public safety, summer camps, interns in the legislature things like that, but not seasonal amusement parks.

smanrolltide said:
To everyone here that's all worked up...

Someone here hit it on the head earlier about the contracts. Anyone can sign a contract that states how much they will be paid, and as long as the company they are signing it for agrees with the terms, then it is accepted and is legal. How do you think the car guys are working for $1.00 this year? That's way less than the legal limits.

There is an exemption to the minimum wage laws for "Executive, administrative, and professional employees". It has nothing to do with a contract.

Also, why would they ever have needed the exemption in the first place if they could contract less of a wage and get away with it. It does not make any since that they would be allowed to legally pay less then the minimum wage even with a contract so the contract discussion I would say is invalid. This is a labor job, not a job like car saleswhere they are compensated for a lack of wage by commission.

Jeff said:

kirk06 said:
So by your logic, those who don't agree with the rate should just leave and those who either don't care or won't speak up will just ride it out and take it how CP gives it.

That's generally how the real world works, yes. I'm not saying you shouldn't complain, but there are a significant number of seasonals, good workers I suspect, that bitch and moan year after year and keep going back. It hurts to give up something you care about, but come on man, look out for yourself first.

So you support a company that breaks the law, a Labor Law even? I know they have not broken any laws till the first cent is paid, but it appears that's what they are trying to do. Legal trouble will cause troubles for your precious stock if it happens, I'm sure. Six flags manages to treat their employees fairly with great benefits, why can't Cedar Fair. Cedar Fair also treats the employees at their other parks much better with better pay and a way better bonus (most of the other parks still get a $1/hr bonus on top of at least federal minimium wage).

What benefits should a part time seasonal employee have? You are unskilled labor.

Could the pay be better? Sure, but no one is forcing you to work there. If you don't like the pay, you can go work somewhere else.