Cynthia “Cyn” Carranza meticulously scavenged for a shady parking spot in the car she called home.

The overnight custodian at Disneyland has to sleep during the day - a difficulty for anyone, let alone when you’re living in your car with two dogs. Ms Carranza says she makes $20.65 an hour (about £15.99) at the park but last summer, she couldn’t afford rent in this Southern California city where the average apartment can run more than $2,000 (about £1,550) a month.

Ms Carranza, like others who work at the park, detailed to the BBC the financial hardships that come with working at what’s supposed to be the “Happiest Place on Earth”. About 10,000 union workers at Disneyland - the first of 12 parks created around the globe - are threatening to strike over the wages and what they say are retaliatory anti-union practices.

Hundreds of workers protested outside the park this week, with an array of signs and pins showing Mickey Mouse’s gloved fist in defiance.

“Mickey would want fair pay,” workers chanted outside Disneyland near the park’s gates.

They voted almost unanimously to authorise strike action on Friday, just days before union contract negotiations for workers are set to resume.

      • @CaptSneeze
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        674 months ago

        Or… “I work hard and live modestly in a small apartment with two dogs that I love. Oops, the landlord just jacked up my rent and I can no longer afford it, and the multi-billion dollar company I work for refuses to allow pay increases to help their low-paid employees deal with inflating prices. Now, I have to live in my car briefly while I figure this situation out.”

      • @[email protected]
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        -14 months ago

        Reading the other comments, apparently its a human right to keep a dog no matter what your living situation and suggesting they give it up is evil.

          • @[email protected]
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            14 months ago

            Do the dogs sit in the car all day? In orlando florida? Doesnt that normally kill the dogs? How is it possible for 2 dogs to live in a car while their owner is at work?

          • @[email protected]
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            4 months ago

            Do you think those dogs have appropriate living conditions? Seems to me like you’re the one that has no empathy for them.

            • @Crashumbc
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              74 months ago

              Very possibly, better than the alternative in most cities…

                  • @[email protected]
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                    4 months ago

                    Implying people don’t want to adopt dogs, talk to your friends and you’re sure to find someone who will want them.

                    You guys are fucking monsters if you consider that it’s ok to have a dog spending all day in a car for two years.

        • @HomerianSymphony
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          64 months ago

          Being homeless might be the reason she got the dogs.

          Homeless women are vulnerable and dogs provide protection.