LOL! Bernie Sanders reportedly cuts his staff's hours in response to $15 an hour demand

Greg P. | 4:59 PM on July 19, 2019

So, this tweet updating the story on Bernie Sanders’ staffers fighting for a $15 an hour minimum wage caught our eye. What does “the equivalent of $15 an hour” actually mean?

Bernie Sanders says his campaign will limit the hours staffers work so they are paid the equivalent of $15 an hour. “I’m very proud to be the first presidential candidate to recognize a union and negotiate a union contract,” he told me. https://t.co/IBJdMiIIIu

— Brianne Pfannenstiel (@brianneDMR) July 19, 2019

And the answer is LOL funny. Basically what Sanders did is not raise anyone’s pay. He just cut the hours they work so their salary now equals about $15-an-hour. So a job that used to take say 60 hours a week is now supposed to be done in 40? Cool, cool. From the Des Moines Register:

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.

Sanders is also PISSED his staffers went 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.”