ORLANDO, Fla. — This has always been a tough town for unions, located in the heart of a right-to-work state with no tradition of organized labor.

        But leaders of the area's largest union group face even tougher obstacles than usual as they begin trying to hammer out a new contract with Walt Disney World, Central Florida's largest employer.

        Disney recently announced job cuts for about 1,400 salaried employees in Florida and had a short-lived hiring freeze that ended a few days ago at the theme park resort. While the unions represent hourly employees who aren't affected by the cuts, union leaders expect the company to use the issue as leverage at the bargaining table.

        “This is the first one I can recall with the economy and our industry being in the state that it is,” said Harvey Totzke, who heads the Service Trades Council, an umbrella group of six unions. “But it seems that Michael Eisner always gets his bonus at the time we go to the table.”

        What happens at Disney

        reverberates throughout the region because the company sets the standard on wages and benefits in Orlando's tourism industry and it has the industry's only notable union presence.

        The three-year contract is being negotiated for about 25,000 of Disney's 55,000 employees. The jobs include the costumed workers who play Cinderella and Mickey Mouse, bus drivers, hotel and restaurant employees, laundry workers, lifeguards, seamstresses and animal caretakers.

        Many union leaders, such as Teamsters leader Mike Stapleton, are expecting a drawn-out process. Talks began last week.

        “I don't expect things to be resolved quickly,” Mr. Stapleton said.

        The current contract ends April 28 but a new one isn't expected to be ratified until at least Memorial Day. Union members rejected the current contract twice before finally approving it on a third try three years ago.

        There's a reason for that, union leaders said.

        “This is a very difficult company to work for in terms of regimentation. As part of their uniform, they have to wear a permanent smile, even on days when the last thing they want to do is smile,” Mr. Totzke said. “Our members have always used this to send the company a message. They vent. This is their vehicle for letting off steam for three years of frustration of doing a very difficult job.”

        Jerry Montgomery, Disney World's vice president of employee relations, said the company's recent announcements won't affect how it approaches the negotiations.

        “The historic way we do this is we do it at the negotiating table. We're not going to do it in the press,” Mr. Montgomery said. “We look forward to a fair exchange of ideas and views.”

        The unions are asking Disney to increase the starting minimum wage by $2.33 an hour to $8.68 and will accept nothing less than a 9.25 percent wage increase over the contract's three-year life. They are asking that hourly workers at the top of the pay scale receive nothing less than a 6 percent annual increase.

        The unions also are seeking to increase pension plans by over $300 per worker over the life of the contract and to freeze increases in co-payments for health insurance.

        In the past, the unions have been very reluctant to take any kind of job action because they didn't have the numbers to back them up. Disney fired a handful of union members who called in sick during contract talks three years ago.

        Membership ranges from 40 to 60 percent of eligible workers, depending on the union.

        “The fact that we don't represent a majority of the employees certainly has a debilitating effect on our effectiveness,” Totzke said.

        The unions are also hurt by the high turnover rate, close to 50 percent, among hourly workers at the Disney parks, which makes recruiting difficult.

        Unlike hotel workers in Las Vegas, which is also in a right-to-work state, Disney controls the workers' health and welfare benefits. The union presence in Las Vegas' hotel industry is so much stronger because the unions control those benefits, Orlando union leaders said.

        Disney and other area companies also can lecture workers against joining a union on company time while organizing efforts are under way, said Steve Hall, a veteran union leader in Orlando. Disney does allow the unions to make a presentation during worker orientation.

        Unions depend on members attending meetings on their own time, when many workers have second jobs and family responsibilities. Some local unions also don't do enough to recruit members, Hall said.

        “I'll be a little self-critical, but it's not a level-playing field.”

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