Sanders Campaign Battles With Staff Demanding $15 Hourly Pay

(Newsweek) Donica Phifer 7/18/19 9:52 PM Campaign workers for Bernie Sanders have taken aim at one of the senators key policies in his 2020 presidential run raising the federal minimum wage. According to The Washington Post some members of Sanders campaign team have been lobbying to raise their wages so that they make the $15 hourly rate that the Vermont senator has frequently called for both on the campaign trail and in Washington D.C. The Post obtained a draft of a letter that the campaigns union planned to send to Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir which read in part that workers cannot be expected to build the largest grassroots organizing program in American history while making poverty wages. Given our campaigns 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. The letter states that field organizers are working at least 60 hours a week which lowers the average per hour pay to $13 an hour. Many field staffers are barely managing to survive financially which is severely impacting our teams productivity and morale. Some field organizers have already left the campaign as a result the letter said According to documents reviewed by the newspaper the issues regarding wages extend back to May 2019 though talks between the campaign union and Shakir appear to be ongoing. It is unknown if Sanders is aware of the requests from campaign workers.