In a case of “isn’t that ironic”, Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has reportedly agreed to cut the working hours of his campaign staff so that they can receive the $15 minimum wage he has promised American voters.
Critics of the Democratic presidential candidate are making a mockery of Sanders latest move after he has been running his campaign with the promise of raising the minimum wage. However, critics say this incident proves that Sanders will only create an environment of more unemployment.
The Washington Post revealed last Thursday that Sanders’ field staffers were upset that the presidential hopeful was promoting $15 minimum wage on his campaign trail and calling out major corporations who pay “starvation wages” — despite his own employees being paid “poverty wages.”
Sanders told The Des Moines Register that he was “very proud” to lead the first major presidential campaign with unionized workers, but also “bothered” by media coverage of his employee’s frustrations. The 2020 candidate revealed that his junior field organizers earn roughly $36,000 per year in salary, with employer-paid health care and sick leave. However, he acknowledged that their salary can go below the $15 per hour minimum wage if staffers work much more than 40 hours per week, something that happens often on presidential campaigns.
The solution is to “limit the number of hours staffers work to 42 or 43 each week to ensure they’re making the equivalent of $15 an hour,” he told the Register’s Brianne Pfannenstiel.
“It does bother me that people are going outside of the process and going to the media,” Sanders added. “That is really not acceptable. It is really not what labor negotiations are about, and it’s improper.”
He went on to say that the union contract “not only provides pay of at least $15 an hour, it also provides, I think, the best health care benefits that any employer can provide for our field organizers.”
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