The Democratic Party and its pitifully foul-mouthed chairman may talk a good game when it comes to supporting job-killing minimum wage increases, but practicing what they preach may be a different story. As Democrats vow to impose new requirements on businesses, their party is being sued by workers alleging various wage-related abuses. Bernie Sanders, call your office. The Washington Free Beacon reports:
Dozens of field workers have filed a class action lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee, claiming the party that is pushing employers to pay a $15 minimum wage and more in overtime failed to pay overtime and minimum wages to its own employees. Justin Swidler, the attorney representing the field workers, argued the Democratic Party failed to pay workers a minimum wage and denied them overtime compensation. Swidler "says the lawsuit seeks ‘fair pay for fair work,' and holding the Democratic Party to the very ideals that it embraces," according to CBS Philly. The 2016 Democratic platform pushed for a $15-per-hour minimum wage, a nearly $8 increase from the current minimum, and promised to defend an Obama-era regulation forcing employers to pay a higher rate to employees for working more than 40 hours. Some of the Democrats' workers put in 80-90 hours per week, according to Swidler, and got only $3,000 per month in compensation. "They got paid a flat salary of $3,000 a month, which isn't even minimum wage for some of the hours that they were working," Swidler said. The Democratic platform decried the current federal minimum of $7.25 per hour as " starvation wage" and declared "no one who works full time should have to raise a family in poverty." The Democratic Party, Swidler noted, claimed it did not have enough money to pay workers overtime.
Vote for the Democratic Party to stop "starvation wages." Work for the Democratic Party to earn "starvation wages." The party supposedly claims that it lacked the funds to make overtime payments. Would that excuse fly if a CEO or small business owner attempted to offer it under a Senate grilling from Elizabeth Warren and friends? What about the explanation from the former DNC host committee chairman, who "said that he told workers before they were hired that they would receive substandard pay"? Not a chance. As we've seen with their "equal pay" posturing and hypocrisy, senior Democrats are often guilty of operating under "do as I say, not as I do" standards. Perhaps Democratic field workers should unionize and demand compensation commensurate with Tom Perez's earnings. After all, as Obama's Labor Secretary, Perez tried to erect stringent new rules on employers regarding, uh, overtime pay. Perfect. It's about fairness and justice, Democrats. On another labor-related note from the WFB, a new study suggests that union bosses earn more than their private sector counterparts. As Democrats demonize job creators as practitioners of selfish avarice, their Big Labor pals -- who pour billions into their campaign coffers -- are living high on the hog:
Leading union officials earned an average salary of $252,370 in 2016, outpacing the average salary of private sector chief executives, according to a new report. The Center for Union Facts compiled the salary information from federal labor filings of 192 of the largest national, state, and local unions. The report found that labor presidents enjoyed nearly a $60,000 advantage over the take-home pay of the nation's business leaders, who earned an average of $194,350, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average compensation of union officials, which includes salary and other perks, was $283,678, according to the report...The AFL-CIO did not return a request for comment.
Lucrative work, if you can get it. Before you go, since I briefly mentioned Bernie Sanders earlier, you should probably know that Vermont's most prominent anti-'bankster' Socialist may be preoccupied with other concerns these days:
FBI investigating Jane Sanders for alleged bank fraud: report https://t.co/2IoW2QMkmh pic.twitter.com/KzeU4U2Fsb
— The Hill (@thehill) May 9, 2017