Bernie Sanders is facing many scuffles with his numerous opponents for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. However, it now seems that the White House hopeful is facing a new battle within his own team. According to The Washington Post , the Vermont senator is currently paying his staffers less than the $15 hourly wage that he is campaigning on, leading to conflict within his team.
The internal fight has been going on since May, with staffers unionizing to take on Sanders’ campaign manager Faiz Shakir.
Union members created a draft letter for Shakir that claimed that they “cannot be expected to build the largest grassroots organizing program in American history while making poverty wages.”
“Given our campaign’s commitment to fighting for a living wage of at least $15.00 an hour, we believe it is only fair that the campaign would carry through this commitment to its own field team.”
Meanwhile, Shakir has denied claims that he and Sanders are going against their beliefs by paying the staffers what they deemed to be “poverty wages” and has insisted that they pay their staffers in line with other campaigns.
“We know our campaign offers wages and benefits competitive with other campaigns, as is shown by the latest fundraising reports,” he said.
Shakir then pivoted to emphasize Sanders’ position as the most “pro-labor” candidate currently in the field.
“Every member of the campaign, from the candidate on down, joined this movement in order to defeat Donald Trump and transform America. Bernie Sanders is the most pro-worker and pro-labor candidate running for president,” he added.
However, the move does not look good for Sanders, who has long made a federal $15 minimum wage one of his main talking points. Sanders even marched with McDonald’s employees seeking higher wages in early June, in addition to fighting for Walmart to pay its workers more.
Currently, union members for his campaign estimate that they receive less than $13 an hour; ironically, a full-time Walmart employee makes $14.26.
Sanders’ staffers, who are represented by the union United Food & Commercial Workers Local 400, have expressed their inability to live on such wages after grueling 60-hour minimum weeks. In addition, most of the low-paid workers are field organizers, which are on the lowest rung of the political totem pole and often comprise of young people in their early 20s who move to new places for the campaign season. The hope is that the long and stressful days will give them campaign experience for better jobs.
Ironically, Sanders originally encouraged his staffers to unionize, which has now allowed them to fight for higher wages. It remains to be seen if they will be successful. It is also not confirmed if Sanders himself is aware of his staff’s salaries.
