Sanders angry at his union workers and their demands for more
Posted: Sun Jul 21, 2019 11:18 am
Democrat presidential candidate Bernie Sanders announced this weekend he will cut staffers' hours so that they can effectively be paid a $15-an-hour minimum wage, prompting mockery from critics who say the move is more evidence that Sanders' plan to raise the national minimum wage is hypocritical and would only lead to less work and more unemployment. Staffers claim that although Sanders will cut the hours they get paid, their workload remains the same, which means they'll be forced to work the cut hours unpaid.
The Washington Post first reported last Thursday that Sanders' field staffers were upset that Sanders championed a $15 minimum wage on the campaign trail, and made headlines for railing against major corporations who pay "starvation wages" -- even as his own employees made "poverty wages. Several staffers have left to take other jobs claiming they were often forced to work 60 plus hours a week on poverty wages.
"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 pointed out he was "very proud" to lead the first major presidential campaign with unionized workers but disappointed they took their concerns to the media.
"For the first time in his life, socialist Bernie Sanders practices economics and, buddy, the results are hilarious," wrote columnist and humorist Stephen Miller. He added: "Why won’t millionaire Bernie Sanders, who owns 3 homes, instead of cutting hours, pay his staff a living wage? People are starving."
