Bernie Sanders vs Bernie Sanders for President 2020
Photo by Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons
This is fun.
Having heralded the fact his campaign staff had unionized for the 2020 campaign, and being a proponent of a nation-wide $15-an-hour minimum wage, Senator and Democrat presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders finds himself with a Union problem.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders defended his campaign’s compensation package Friday after a Washington Post story highlighted concerns among staffers that they were not receiving the $15-an-hour wages Sanders champions on the campaign trail.
“I’m very proud to be the first presidential candidate to recognize a union and negotiate a union contract,” the Vermont senator and presidential candidate told the Des Moines Register in an interview Friday. “And that contract was ratified by the employees of the campaign, and it 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.”
He also expressed frustration that staffers had taken their complaints to the media.
“It does bother me that people are going outside of the process and going to the media,” he said. “That is really not acceptable. It is really not what labor negotiations are about, and it’s improper.”
Sanders said, ahead of a weekend Iowa campaign swing: “We are disappointed that some individuals have decided to damage the integrity of these efforts. We are involved in negotiations. And some are individuals that have decided to damage the integrity of that process before they were concluded.”
Sanders said field organizers, who are the lowest-ranking members of a presidential campaign and are typically in their 20s, make $36,000 a year with 100% employer-paid health care, as well as paid vacation and sick leave.
For a staffer working 40 hours a week, that comes out to about $17 an hour. But 40-hour workweeks on presidential campaigns are rare. Sanders said the campaign will limit the number of hours staffers work to 42 or 43 each week to ensure they’re making the equivalent of $15 an hour.
There are very few Union advocates who, when they find themselves on the other side of Unions, are so willing to give the Union everything they want.Report
I don’t think Bernie should pay his staffers anything. If they truly believed in transforming American into a socialist paradise, they wouldn’t act like capitalists, sticking their grubby hands out for money. How many of his staffers are just in it for themselves and their personal gain, instead of being devoted to the cause of justice and human progress? They need to learn that socialism requires sacrifice, and lots of it.
It’s beyond time for him to separate the wheat from the chaff. If the federal law dictates that he pay them something, let him pay them in Bolivars or North Korean wons to show solidarity with their proletarian peers who are far ahead of us on the path to true socialism.Report
I hope there’s a secondary part of the agreement that stipulates that in the event that a staffer works more than 42-43 hrs in a week they are entitled to 1.5x pay. Else its a sucker’s deal.
Even with that minimum stipulation, I’m still willing to bet that there will be considerable pressure not to log more than 42-43 hrs; and/or the pressure will be: those that get ahead don’t, so….
And I write this not to chortle, but because we really do need to pay people for their work and stop the grey labor economy.Report
This is a great opportunity.
“I am paying my people the minimum wage that I fight for! AND I CALL UPON EACH AND EVERY ONE OF MY OPPONENTS TO DO THE SAME FOR THEIR STAFF!”
Then sit back and watch the food fight.
He’s there for a food fight, ain’t he?Report
Hondurans and Guatemalans would canvas for votes for a third what Bernie’s union staffers are demanding. One of his opponents should bring that up. They could call Bernie out as a racist for insisting on $15 an hour, but only for young people who are white coastal elites, while totally neglecting the plight of desperate immigrants who are true victims of Trump’s racism, American imperialism, oligarchical oppression, and globalist capitalism, and who came here seeking even entry level jobs as socialist political organizers. Watching the subsequent cream pies fly back and forth would be quite entertaining.Report
The problem is many campaigns already are paying their staff the same amount or more, without them unionizing. For example, from another story, “Biden spokesman Andrew Bates said that interns on the campaign are paid at a rate of $15 an hour and that field organizers are paid a salary of $4,000 a month. The latter comes out to $48,000 a year.”Report
Then hit the ones that ain’t. Make Marianne Williamson sputter about love dividends and have Amy Klobuchar give a speech about how you have to treat them like crap or they won’t respect you.Report
Marianne Williamson pays staffers love dividends? Does the FEC even have a rule about that? I’m sure Biden showers his staffers with affection, which is okay but kind of creepy, but I’m not sure where the line is. Showering with staffers, maybe?
Anyway, Bernie is obviously not to blame for his staffing situation. He could pay them double overtime if liberal elites or greedy corporations would donate more to his campaign. He’s not supposed to redistribute his money. That’s just not how socialism works. He’s supposed to redistribute someone else’s money, and those someone elses are dropping the ball, not pulling the wagon, benefiting from unearned privilege, defending the unequal status quo, reaping the rewards of other’s labor, exploiting the proletariat, defending their entrenched interests… They need a kick in the pants.
Bernie probably soon announce that he has to “rightsize” his campaign staff.
“I apologize to you all, but campaigning is rough and has many ups and downs.
I was hoping to gain a good deal of ground when Eric Swalwell bowed out of the race because I’m the most logical next pick. And indeed, Eric’s supporter said she was switching to me. Thank you Mrs Swalwell. I won’t disappoint you.”
“But we’re going to have to make some adjustments, and some staffer’s hours have obviously been cut. That’s okay, because when they’re not on the clock, they’re still out there preaching the message of free everything for everybody, and once everything is free, it won’t matter how much anyone makes. In fact, we’ll just stop paying people altogether.”
“But until that time, we have to stay lean so we can beat all the fat cats who are buying up the other candidates like they were cheap, immoral, soulless, low-rent politicians. Not that my wonderful opponents are any of those things. That’s just an indictment of our flawed electoral process, and one we will change by forming a government that’s so popular that nobody will ever cast a vote against it, at least not without ending up in a mental hospital for clinical observation and possible confinement.”
“Anyway, your new hours and assignments are posted on the empty vending machine in the lobby, the one that someone rigged this morning to give out free chips and candy bars. Hopefully the snack company will refill it soon. Margret, try calling them after we leave here. Okay, that’s it folks! Back to work transforming America and ending capitalism!”Report
So Bernie has a) been overworking his lowest paid staff (60 hours a week is what they’re claiming) and b) paying them *just* north of the salary where you can claim overtime.
And his response to this is to do what he has said is a total myth: reducing their hours.
Good God. He just refuted his entire philosophy.Report
To be fair, he’s reducing their hours without cutting their pay. From the staffers’ perspective, it may not be what they wanted most, but getting the same amount of money for less work is a clear win.
That said, this is clear evidence that the demand curve for labor does in fact slope downwards, even below $15/hour, which obviously is not a fact to which Sanders would like to have the nation’s attention drawn.
As with Trump, there are so many legitimate and damning criticisms to be made of Sanders that there’s really no need for cheap shots.Report