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Margolis: Sanders' staff complaints about 'poverty wages' fall short
By Jon Margolis
Jul 22 2019, 4:56 PM
Excerpt:
On Sunday, the Sanders campaign agreed to reduce the field staff workweek to 42 or so hours, meaning they will earn more than $15 an hour. They won’t earn any more money; they’ll just work less. That’s probably not good for the campaign, but there wasn’t much else Sanders could do. His only alternative would have been to reduce the field staff, which would have been worse for the campaign.
That helps explain the difference between a political campaign and a business, and why this little squabble has no connection to how minimum wage increases would affect a normal business or the economy in general. Successful businesses last indefinitely. They can do long-range planning. They have several options when they have to pay higher wages or benefits. They can invest in labor-saving devices so they need fewer workers. They can find other savings and efficiencies. They can accept a slightly lower profit margin. Most of all, they can raise prices for the goods or services they sell.
A political campaign exists for no more than 18 or 20 months, hardly time for long-range planning. No chance for labor-saving devices; not much chance to find efficiencies. A campaign cannot accept a lower profit margin because it has no profit. Its goal is not profit, but winning the election. It cannot raise prices for the goods and services it sells, for it does not sell goods or services. In theory, it can raise more money. But campaigns are always raising all the money they can.
In this case, Bernie Sanders is neither a hypocrite nor a heartless employer. He and his campaign honored the contract they signed. The complaints, it seems, came not from the union, but from a segment – small or large we do not know – of field workers who were dissatisfied with the agreement.
As to the significance of this flappette to the rest of the world, to economic policy, or to the wisdom of raising the minimum wage: there is none.
https://vtdigger.org/2019/07/22/margolis-sanders-staff-complaints-about-poverty-wages-fall-short/
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