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The field organizers have for months demanded an annual salary equivalent to a $15 hourly wage but have been met with resistance from campaign manager Faiz Shakir, according to documents reviewed by the Washington Post.

The workers began demanding a raise in May, arguing that Sanders, who has made a $15 federal minimum wage a centerpiece of his campaign, should honor that commitment in compensating his own staff.

The Sanders campaign, which is one of just three Democratic presidential campaigns to unionize, released a statement last week celebrating the move.

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"We know our campaign offers wages and benefits competitive with other campaigns, as is shown by the latest fundraising reports," Shakir said. "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. We have tremendous staff who are working hard. Bernie and I both strongly believe in the sanctity of the collective bargaining process and we will not deviate from our commitment to it."

United Food & Commercial Workers Local 400, the union representing the campaign workers, would not comment on the specifics of their negotiations in a statement provided to the Post.

The Post reported that field organizers' annual salary was $36,000, while regional field directors received $48,000 and statewide department directors were given $90,000.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.) is, first and foremost, a politician. As a politician, he is responsible for setting rules that govern how other Americans must live and work.

He's got lots of ideas about that. One of his ideas—one of the more popular ones, considering that a version of it passed the House of Representatives this week—is that workers should be paid no less than $15 an hour, regardless of what agreement they and their employers might have otherwise reached.

But Sanders is also an employer.

As a presidential candidate, Sanders in charge of a national campaign operation that employs dozens of people (along with many more unpaid volunteers). But despite what Sanders believes other employers should have to do to treat their employees fairly, his campaign does not offer a $15 per hour minimum wage.

Some of his employees aren't very happy about that cognitive—and fiscal—dissonance. They intend to send a sternly worded letter to campaign manager Faiz Shakir in the coming days, The Washington Post reports. "Many field staffers are barely managing to survive financially, which is severely impacting our team's productivity and morale," says a leaked copy of the letter. It goes on to say that field workers "cannot be expected to build the largest grassroots organizing program in American history while making poverty wages."

They're working more than 40 hours, that's the problem.  ::)

Now that the Sanders campaign is in full swing and people are working  tons and tons of hours they may be earning less than the $15 minimum that they wanted. This is sometimes the case in other jobs when you take on a salary position, as you're paid for your year and not per hour.

I'd like to see how he'll handle this "inconvenience". Since he's asking companies to pay this kind of wage, maybe he can provide an example by doing it himself.


Do you think they'd ask for more than $15 if they think they are actually working more hours than they expected?