Winter of workers' discontent.

Don't expect all the troops to rally around the flag.

Even before Comcast Corp. announced its desire to acquire Walt Disney Co. in a $54.1 billion stock deal, the company that once housed "the happiest place on earth" was looking more like a broken home.

The Web site savedisney.com, established by Roy E. Disney and Stanley

Gold, the two former directors who have staged a wide-ranging campaign to oust Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner, has become a repository for remarks of disgruntled employees, among others.

The site's operator, Roy Disney's Shamrock Holdings of California Inc., claims to have received e-mails and letters from hundreds of employees complaining of Eisner's performance and bolstering calls for his resignation.

Since its late December launch through last week, 23,428 people have signed up as supporters on the site. Of that, site operators said about 4,500 indicated they were current or former Disney employees. Another 5,500 Said they were shareholders.

The registrations are by no means a scientific sampling of Disney's 120,000 "cast members," and site operators would only release the full text of six letters on condition the names of the senders not be used. The site displays three more letters, one signed.

Disney officials didn't return calls. Gold and Roy Disney did not respond to interview requests.

Winter of discontent 

Katja Eastland, a Shamrock employee who maintains the Web site's database, said it was averaging 1,000 new registrations a day. Registrants are required to include their name, zip code and indicate their connection to the company (consumer, employee, shareholder, etc.).

The letters reviewed by the Business Journal were all critical of how Disney was being run.

"Many of management seem only to look out for themselves, not the very cast members whom (sic) are under them," wrote an actor who said he had worked at Walt Disney World for six years. "It is definitely clear that this company cares nothing for us, nor for any chance of having a life outside of Disney."

Others directed their anger at Eisner.

"Michael Eisner has done a wonderful job of getting rid of the people who know better so that he can replace them with idiots," wrote a Disneyland Storybook ride operator.

The actor struck the same nostalgic chord as Disney and Gold in recalling earlier management.

"I don't work for Eisner," he wrote. "I don't work to put money in his pockets so he can make more money in just his bonus than some third world countries get for food in a year. I don't work so stocks can go up or so the company can buy out another company and rise higher on the monopoly ladder. I work here because I remember who your uncle and father were."

The campaign by Roy Disney, nephew of Walt Disney, along with Gold, a lawyer and investor, was fully joined when they resigned from the board after Eisner deflected their efforts at changing corporate governance procedures. The two have since lobbied institutional investors in pushing for Eisner's resignation or retirement, and have run the Web site, inviting comments about the company.

In turn, the Disney board issued a letter to shareholders last week--before the Comcast bid--defending Eisner and noting that Roy Disney and Gold have criticized decisions they once supported in an effort to confuse investors. The board also said it adopted "more formal and frequent, and extremely detailed" practices to improve succession planning for Eisner. It is Eisner's perceived reluctance at grooming a successor that has been one of Roy Disney and Gold's biggest concerns.

Eisner, who became chairman and chief executive in 1984, has had a hand in creating an environment of discontent by presiding over several shakeups in senior management--as well as ignoring a revolving door reputation at all executive levels.

He angered Jeffrey Katzenberg in 1994 by not naming him president after the death of Frank Wells. The spat led Katzenberg, who as head of Disney's animation division had overseen development of "The Little Mermaid" and "Aladdin," to bolt the company and establish a partnership with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, DreamWorks SKG.

Eisner's preferred choice, Creative Artists Agency co-founder Michael Ovitz, lasted 16 months in the job.

Last week, the Institutional Shareholder Services Inc.--the largest U.S. advisor to money managers on proxy votes--recommended that shareholders vote against Eisner's re-election as chairman, saying his influence over the board was too strong.

"For 20 years Disney's revolving door for board members and management has had one constant--Mr. Eisner," the ISS report said. "The boardroom battles and management departures, which predate the Disney/Gold campaign, are disappointing, expensive, distracting, and not in the best interest of shareholders."

Comcast has been criticized for the control exercised by the family of company founder Ralph Roberts. But it has had much better relations with its workers and the Communication Workers of America union.

Even as it slashed 1,700 jobs in Denver when it completed its acquisition of AT&T Broadband early last year, the severance package was generous enough that some who were being let go found it hard to complain.

Comcast offered the corporate staff up to two years' salary and benefits, according to the trade publication Cable World. All employees were given severance packages that included extended benefit coverage and outplacement support, the magazine said.

"I'm not happy about losing my job," Cable World quoted one former AT&T employee as saying. "I've liked working here. But the severance will sure help as I look for something else."

The company's Independence, Mo. operation received a nod from another trade publication in 2000 for its efforts to mend fences through a newsletter after a particularly difficult union campaign.

Comcast "resolved to improve the lines of communication between the employees and management," Cablevision wrote. "Today morale at the work place is high, pride in a job well-done is the norm and a highly informed employee is the standard."

By contrast, the letters received from Disney employees at savedisney.com reflect an increasing disconnect with management, a breakdown in the workplace morale and concern about what is seen as the decreasing quality of Disney products.

"The company is being destroyed by greed and poor management," wrote an Orlando-based employee. "The morale in my division has never been at a lower point than it is today. We work now in fear of our jobs, stress levels that have been pushed to the limit and working conditions that are outrageous. If the public knew how we were treated, they would be shocked."

No grassroots backing of Eisner and his management team appears to have arisen in response to the efforts by Roy Disney and Gold, but the company's board has come to his support.

In the Feb. 9 letter to shareholders accompanying its proxy statement, the board cautioned that the pair was "engaging in a misleading and distorted campaign against your company."

In backing Eisner, the letter stated, "You should be disturbed by this attack, which comes at a time when your company is achieving very positive results.... Your Board also believes that Disney's seasoned senior management team is focused on the right priorities to drive shareholder value in the years to come."

No Magic

Excerpts from letters sent by current and former employees supporting Roy E. Disney.

"Good Luckto you!!! I hope that everything ends up the way it should with Mr. Eisner out on his butt!!! (pardon me for the language)"

Splash Mountain, Disneyland

"People are not proud to say that they work for the Disney company. They complain about the pay. They complain about the working conditions, and most of all they complain about Eisner."

Disney MGM Studios, Florida

"The morale in my division has never been at a lower point than it is today. We work now, in fear of our jobs, stress levels that have been pushed to the limit and working conditions that are outrageous."

Facility undisclosed, Florida

"Michael Eisner has done a wonderful job of getting rid of the people who know better so that he can replace them with idiots."

Former Disneyland employee

"I hear complaints that we are not at all as we used to be. We can thank Michael's greed for that. Every cast member I talk to agrees that Michael should have gone."

Regional Engineering for Magic Kingdom