Bernie Sanders Campaign Accused of Retaliating Against Staffers for Union Activities
“The campaign leadership, from Senator Sanders on down, respects the rights of all of its employees to speak collectively and bargain about their terms and conditions of employment”
Bernie Sanders is having a rough month. Last week it was revealed that he was cutting staff hours in order to provide the $15 dollars an hour he is demanding from American employers.
Now someone has lodged an anonymous complaint against the campaign, alleging retaliation for union activities.
Max Greenwood writes at The Hill:
Labor charge alleges Sanders campaign management retaliated against union activities
An anonymous unfair labor practice charge against Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) 2020 presidential campaign alleges that at least three staffers were fired from the team for their involvement in organizing and labor activities, according to a redacted copy of the charge obtained by Bloomberg Law.
The charge, which was filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) by a former campaign employee on July 22, also alleges that the campaign violated a collective bargaining agreement with unionized workers by making staffers work additional days and failing to provide commensurate days off.
When the individual asked the campaign to abide by the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, management retaliated, the charge alleges.
“[Campaign management] retaliated against me when I organized the bargaining unit and sent an email requesting compliance with the [collective bargaining agreement],” the person wrote in the charge.
The identity of the individual who filed the charge has not been made public, but the charge lists Sanders’s campaign office in Des Moines, Iowa, as the employer’s address. The NLRB’s Indianapolis office is investigating the allegations.
Bradford Betz of FOX News has more:
The charges, if true, could be yet another ironic blow for the self-proclaimed Democratic socialist senator, I-Vt., who has portrayed himself as an ally of organized labor.
Sanders made history earlier this year after announcing that his campaign employees would be represented by a union. But The Washington Post reported last week, that campaign staffers have been “battling with … management, arguing that the compensation and treatment they are receiving does not meet the standards Sanders espouses in his rhetoric, according to internal communications.”…
“The campaign leadership, from Senator Sanders on down, respects the rights of all of its employees to speak collectively and bargain about their terms and conditions of employment, and it supports the mission of the NLRB to enforce worker and union rights,” Sanders’ campaign said in a prepared statement to Fox News. “That is exactly why the Bernie 2020 campaign voluntarily recognized the employees’ chosen union and engaged in good faith bargaining that resulted in a historic collective bargaining agreement.”
What’s that thing people say about the revolution eating its own?
I’ll leave you with this monstrosity:
Hand crafted Bernie Beanie! Great for rallies, marches and parades! ???? If anyone wants a Bernie beanie let me know. They are $27(+shipping) each and I donate 27% of that to the Bernie campaign! #Bernie2020 #CraftingforACause @RedBeretsM4All @BernieSanders @ninaturner pic.twitter.com/NJpbLy0iLH
— S Hansen (@shansen614) July 26, 2019
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Comments
There were trade unions in the USSR, though under Stalin they knew their proper place. It’s these capitalist unions whose workers have bourgeois inclinations that are the problem. They are wreckers.
A proper trade union inculcates Stakhanovite enthusiasm and its members exceed any quotas the State has set.
It boggles my mind that anyone would consider this vile and angry little Marxist troll leadership material. WTF?
I am not surprised about this, I had said that Bernie would be hit, but would be harder to attack than Biden is.
Both will see a bunch of negative press to push them out. They are old white guys, and while the National Socialists are squishy with Biden – given his still somewhat favorable numbers, so they worry he might be their only real choice and go VP ultra leftist and get him to retire early, they really want Warren or Harris – with Harris being the top choice for color and gender.
Bernie is going to feel the burn. His numbers keep getting shakier and I see this whole action by design. Plants in his campaign trying to bring him internal grief.
No doubt this attack was done in support of one of the other progressive fascist candidates for president.
Democrats were stupid for allowing a non Party member to run for the presidential nomination of their Party. Especially after he resumed his Democratic Socialist affiliation in the Senate following his failed (sabotaged) 2016 bid. They can’t be shocked, post Obamunism, that his run pulled the Party dangerously leftward.
The Soviet Union was never an egalitarian paradise. The ruling elite lived a far better lifestyle above the masses. Bernie the Bolshevik, who wants us in bread lines, has his dachas, so of course he has no true empathy for the workers.
“portrayed himself as an ally of organized labor.”
Even allies of labor have to live within their budget. His staff were bellyaching that they were only making $13 an hour for a 60 hour week. That sounds like a living wage to me.
There is a great deal of unproductive socializing time in campaigns. Are his people expecting to be paid for BS time?
Quite often people working campaigns get juicy well paying jobs if the candidate is elected.