Bernie Sanders: Disney needs 'moral defense' for having hungry workers while making billions

[left-of-center2012]

Source: The Hill

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) lambasted Walt Disney Co. on Saturday for making billions of dollars in profits while failing to pay workers "a living wage."

At a rally in Anaheim, Calif., Sanders demanded a "moral defense" for Disney and other billion-dollar corporations that pay their executives high salaries but have made efforts to avoid raising other workers' salaries.

“I want to hear the moral defense of a company that makes $9 billion in profits, $400 million for their CEOs and have a 30-year worker going hungry,” Sanders told the crowd.

“The struggle that you are waging here in Anaheim is not just for you,” Sanders said. “It is a struggle for millions of workers all across this country who are sick and tired of working longer hours for lower wages.”

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/390430-bernie-sanders-disney-needs-moral-defense-for-having-hungry-workers-while

[Squinch]

1. Really? He lambasted someone? Wow.

[Sophia4]

35. This story was on KPFK. It has been said before that some low-level Disney employees

have been living in their cars because the pay does not permit them to live decent lives.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-disneyland-study-20180228-story.html

And in the LA Times.

When Disney learned that Bernie was pointing a finger at them, it increased its minimum wage.

Good for Bernie.

He actually got something changed and didn't just talk about it.

Credit where credit is due, please.

[LuvLoogie]

2. What are the circumstances of this 30-year worker going hungry?

Is Bernie saying that someone who has worked for Disney for 30-years can't afford food? Bernie has a great job. $174,000 per year to bitch about the rich.

[vsrazdem]

3. So I am not following.

If you make a decent living you should have no concern for those that are less fortunate?

[QC]

6. Interestingly, that's a popular right wing attack on Michael Moore and others.

"He got him a fancy apartment in New York City so how can he say he cares about poor folks???"

It's also very popular here.

[George II]

9. It's quite interesting how he went from a net worth of $350K in 2016 (at age 74) to a net worth...

....approaching $2M in little more than a year.

[dalton99a]

10. +1. And where are the tax returns?

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

38. Well, at least Bernie has now completed turning over transcripts of all his Wall Street speeches...

doesn't he at least get any credit for having done that?! Come on folks... say something positive about Bernie for a change!!

[bahrbearian]

54. He is not a Democrat

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

55. True... Bernie is in his own special category of "ultra-Democrat"

since he votes with the Democrats more than any regular Democrat.

[bahrbearian]

59. .

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

60. And you forgot Bernie didn't vote for the Iraq War... good for him!!

[progressoid]

22. That's the same thing you said about Hillary's income too.

...

[bettyellen]

30. Well we do have answers to where her money came from, and it was used as a cudgel....

So it’s ironic to see the lack of transparency on the side of all her major critics. But the media gave them all a pass, didn’t they.

[George II]

57. No I didn't, you must be mistaking me for someone else.

[lunamagica]

77. With Hillary we know it was honest income. How do we know that? Because she showed us her tax return

she was transparent,

[Voltaire2]

11. Wtf?

[pangaia]

13. I am absolutely speechless that you would say such a thing.

But it is a free country.

Would you say the same thing about Al Franken? Hillary Clinton? Elizabeth Warren? Nancy Pelosi? Kamala Harris? Mazie Hirono? FDR? LBJ? George Soros?

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

61. Let me answer for Loogie... no.

[pangaia]

63. HHAHAHA...

Why thank you InAbLuEsTate..

"INCORRECT PASSWOR,, Please try agaibn,,,,



man, that is hard to type,,
harder than my FIDELITY password

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

65. Your welcome! The Bernie Bashers are falling down on the job...

Someone has to help 'em out.

[pangaia]

68. I have chosen to stay out of it for the most part. I am rather "confrontation averse." :)

But when my ruffles get feathered, I can say thing I may later regret. So I am careful.

Some of the things said about him are really ugly and/or knee jerk. Some criticisms are valid.
Same with Hillary, although it seems like much less negativity now than a couple years ago.

I supported him in the primary for many reasons. I found him to be a breath of fresh air. I felt, and still do, he was/is the real deal, whatever that means.(That could be attacked easily- -- )

Then I supported Clinton in the general.
There are good and bad things I see about both. Mostly good, by a long shot. :&gt )

I met Clinton once briefly. Sanders, never,

Something has changed in the discussions here in the last--- oh 12-18 months? Not just about Sanders, but about a lot of topics.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

70. All good points... and very fair ones. I try to see the good in all Democrats...

None are perfect, but, as you say, Bernie just comes across as the "real deal." I can't tell you how many times I've disagreed with Bernie on an issue, only to come around to his way of thinking. To me, that's the sign of a TRUE leader!! Like Sir Isaac Newton, Bernie is just ahead of his time!!

[pangaia]

76. Or, the times are behind bernie.

[lunamagica]

78. So, you agree with him voting five times against the Brady Bill? Or his vote

against the Amber Alert?

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

80. Nobody I'm aware of agrees with EVERYTHING their favorite candidate does...

that is, unless they're a sycophant.

[demmiblue]

32. WTF?

[PatrickforO]

47. I don't get what you're saying at all.

I support a family on over half what Bernie makes and sometimes things are awful tight. $174 isn't that much. Not when you consider the greed-CEO of Disney 'made' $400 MILLION last year.

Don't like Bernie?

I get it.

But truth is truth no matter whose mouth it comes out of.

Wal-Mart, Disney, Amazon, and others are quite guilty of brutally suppressing wages of workers in favor of increased shareholder earnings, and that is the issue, isn't it? The $400 million CEO of Disney is ONLY responsible for increasing shareholder earnings. That's why he works really hard to keep wages and benefits as low as they can go, and expenses as low as they can go. So they can have a high net profit per share.

Disney LOVED the giant tax cut for billionaires, believe me!

And, let me just ask you to name...say...10 Democrats that are out there addressing workers and putting pressure directly on corporations to give workers a greater share of the profits.

Did you know Bernie recently introduced legislation making it much easier for workers to unionize? Of course, it went nowhere, but if EVERY ONE OF US called our US Senators and US Representative each day on the issue until it happened, it just might.

There can be NO profit without workers, and until workers rise up together and force corporations to give them a fair share, it won't happen.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

62. When bashing Bernie, it doesn't have to make sense...

as long as you're bashing Bernie... then it makes sense.

[PatrickforO]

48. Oh, and not only that,

but look at Bernie vs other members of Congress. Did you know the punk Ryan is now worth $5 million - wealth he has amassed SINCE being elected?

Even if you don't like him, he is truly the quintessential blue-collar Congressman, and you have to admit that he is, in step with many Democrats, in fact asserting some serious leadership in this country.

And, again, like him or not, Bernie changed the national dialog in 2016, and that will only help us all.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

64. Bernie's changed the national dialog, yes, but why let facts get in the way of a good Bernie bashing

[ucrdem]

84. So after huffing for decades about Wall Street

he flies to Cali to pick on Mickey Mouse

[exboyfil]

4. Disneyland

The Disneyland Resort pays its employees an average of $13.25 an hour. Hourly pay at The Disneyland Resort ranges from an average of $9.62 to $24.54 an hour.

The house I grew up in just 1.4 miles from Disneyland entrance now goes for over $500K. This is a 1183 sq ft. on a slab. Here in Iowa my daughter just started as a nurse, and, with shift differential, she is at about $25/hr. The same house in a very nice neighborhood here would be around $130K (if you could get it sold without a basement).

[pangaia]

14. WOW. $50,000 starting for a nurse.

Nurses should make a gazillion times that.

So should school teachers..

[bearsfootball516]

28. They should, but any job where you can get hired out of college and start at $50,000 is damn good

There are a lot of people who have worked 20 years and still don't make that.

[exboyfil]

42. Yep she thinks her Medical and Safety Techs

who work are her team are inadequately paid. Her Safety Techs understand that the safety of their "little" sister is very important, and she regularly brings treats for them and the rest of her team. She has been very lucky to be on her team.

She has actually got an amazing workplace for our modern society. The other large hospital group in the area (where she did most of her clinicals) treats their staff much more poorly. I figure that my daughter's group hasn't yet got a "bright" MBA in management that truly knows how to squeeze the last little bit of blood out of the turnip.

One thing about her job is probably the majority of her pay comes from Medicaid recipients (she works in mental health and Medicaid is the single biggest payee). I think these are the "lazy" Medicaid recipients that should be working, and that the GOP wants to remove health benefits from. Good luck dealing with them on the street when that happens.

[PatrickforO]

49. I'll sure agree with you on that. Let's also add pre-school teachers and child care

workers into that mix as well.

Seems like dirtbags like Shkreli, Diamon, Charles Koch, Sheldon Adelson, and Disney's own Bob Iger, earn obscene amounts of money.

I mean, at $400 million a year, Iger makes just over $192K PER HOUR.

That is $3,205.12 PER MINUTE.

No one is worth that much. No one. That is nothing but a sick joke when he's got guys earning less than $10/hour!

And Obama started calling out these dirt bags in 2009 and 2010 BUT ITS GOTTEN WORSE.

It is time for a national movement toward unionization, and legislation that creates a maximum wage for C-level people, and legislation that expands fiduciary responsibility beyond increasing earnings for shareholders. CEOs need to be forced to consider the needs of their workers and the environment.

This is why we have the polarization with these ignorant fuck Trump supporters. They have been propagandized by the capitalists through Fox, Breitbart and hate-talk radio, and now many websites, including one that comes to us courtesy of Cozy Bear.

And the tea party imbeciles are talking about balanced budgets, life beginning at conception and other stupid social conservatism while what they actually DO is open the way for these billionaire freaks to steal ever more of the money from our treasury.

[Beaverhausen]

53. California minimum wage is $11 per hour

Still not great just correcting your numbers

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

58. It needs to be 15 bucks, no less, as Bernie has tirelessly advocated.

[Beaverhausen]

71. It will be in a few years

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

73. No doubt, the sooner the better. Talk about making REAL change (no pun intended) in people's lives!

Wherever such change is desperately needed, there's Bernie leading the charge. Regardless of whether he gets elected President, or even runs again, I'll always be damn proud of what he's been able to accomplish by empowering ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

[SWBTATTReg]

5. Disney is NOT by far the only company like this...

I could name quite a few, McDonalds, Walmarts, Koch Brothers and their Sparkle paper towels, Amazon and all of its retail products, of which, I guarantee you, some products are made at below living wage salaries in various localities.

This is why we have the safety nets, e.g. social security, medicare, minimum wage (which is at the fed. mandated level, a joke, a lot of localities and companies are moving to increase this), etc. Get politics out of living wage discussions, get politics out of so called 'oh, it's going to hurt businesses' and back to 'our workers aren't earning a decent wage' discussions.

Bernie is right to harp about this, but he's not the only one. What is most reprehensible about this whole thing, is that businesses and the 1% own a grossly overwhelming proportionate % of the wealth in this country, when in fact, it was the property and real estate taxes (among others) that allowed this country's economy to boom, and do so in a safe manner. If I recall (sarcastically), once you're outside the door of a business, it's your own dime, e.g., they don't have resp. for anything in the parking lot, in your car, nothing!

My contention is yes, they do have responsibility, just like any other normal citizen. So if you are going to have Citizens United, fine. Just push responsibility 100% all cross the board, make corporations act truly 100% like you and I (which they aren't even though they're treated like discreet unique persons via Citizens United).

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. Tax the rich. Income & Wealth Inequality really bad & growing. Must be fixed. . . . nt

[SWBTATTReg]

8. Amen!

And it is funny, don't we all have to make money in order to spend it? The rich seem to forget this rule (one that Ford made in the early 1900s when he paid his workers a better salary than most did back then).

Take care.

[workinclasszero]

23. Damn right

In the 1950s and 1960s, when the economy was booming, the wealthiest Americans paid a top income tax rate of 91%. Today, the top rate is 43.4%.

https://americansfortaxfairness.org/tax-fairness-briefing-booklet/fact-sheet-taxing-wealthy-americans/

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

34. Thankfully, Bernie's addressing the problem & has the fix w/ the progressive agenda he's advocating.

[Baclava]

12. Lest we forget....Bernie is a 1%er

Bernie Sanders made more than $1 million last year—here's how much it takes to be in the top 1%

While the Democratic socialist was warning against the concentration of wealth in the hands of "the top 1 percent," he was also joining their ranks.

Though his annual income of $200,000 still makes him one of the least wealthy senators, "the former Democratic presidential candidate made some $858,750 off book royalties alone last year," Newsweek reports. "Combined with his Senate salary, he likely cleared $1 million in earnings."

That would place Sanders — whose website says that "the issue of wealth and income inequality is the great moral issue of our time, it is the great economic issue of our time, and it is the great political issue of our time" — in the unusual position of being among the top 1 percent of earners in the U.S.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/06/bernie-sanders-made-over-1-million-last-year-and-has-joined-the-1-percent.html

[lambchopp59]

15. In my book, that places him about 50,000 notches higher respectability

Than the "fuck the poor" greedy bastards who actively campaign for more corporate and estate tax cuts and subsidies.

[pangaia]

19. tell me about it.

WTF is happening here?

Would the same people bashing Bernie Sanders in this thread say the same thing about,, oh.. I don;t know.. Hillary Clinton?

FOR WHOM I GLADLY VOTED !!!

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

33. The Bernie Bashers really need to move the fuck on if we're ever going to unite

in defeating BLOTUS and his Nazi Rethug henchmen.

[dae]

21. Agree 100%!

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

29. A THOUSAND TIMES THIS!!!

[pangaia]

18. Speechless..

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

66. Were you expecting anything less? This is the Olympic training ground

for the Bernie speed-bashing competition. World records have been broken here... potential gold-medalists abound!!

[pangaia]

69. HAHA.. You again.. me again........

I mean, WHO today uses that as an argument for ANYTHING?



it's getting worse, is it not.
I mean jiminy crickets


Waiting to hear from in 5,4,3,2------eh, I better not name names....

I still can't type..OR say your name so I won't even try... I get tongue tied...blbtllubla

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

72. Haha yes!! It's getting ridiculous, isn't it... hence my comment above.

I'm starting to give out the "Golden Hammer" Awards for best Bernie Bashers and comments in several categories this year... this one that we're commenting on is a nominee in the "Jiminy Crickets!" category for most absurd post of the year, named in honor of your reaction to it Pangaia. Also, competing for that Award is the one criticizing Bernie for traveling outside Vermont during a Senate recess to go to California to support abused and underpaid Disney workers... how dare he?!?!

[pangaia]

74. oh goddess, I remember that one.

Thank you for the naming honor..... I am honored.... bigly....

Then there is the monthly - Bernie escaped to Vermont..

Well, I live in a town that my ex-wife(who is still Chinese, even thought she is my EX) calls white bread city. LOL!!!!!!!!!
She' right.....
She also calls P F CHANG'S Chinese food for white people....

But now I come back at her cause she and her husband now live, although not by choice, in.... DRUM ROLL HUNTSVILLE ALABAMA !!



But there IS at least one great thing about Huntsville.
And that is MICROWAVE DAVE AND THE NUKES !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

75. Hahaha... thanks for the good laughs Pangaia. Oh and here's the "Bernie Bashers" Golden Hammer Award

that will be handed out on Award night:



And, just for your contribution in helping to create the "Jiminy Cricket" Award category, you receive an all new, complimentary pair of "Bernie All Star" edition Chuck Taylors... because "if the shoe fits, wear it"... on the other hand, the sneaks should help with this, "if the foo's shit, bear it".

[progressoid]

24. As are nearly all of our elected officials (including Democrats)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_members_of_the_United_States_Congress_by_wealth

The issue is what do they do with their wealth and how do they fight for us.

[demmiblue]

39. WTF?

[BeyondGeography]

51. Who the fuck cares?

You BDS’ers are really embarrassing yourselves.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

67. As if that matters to BDS'ers?!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

16. What this country needs, along with a higher minimum wage,

is a maximum wage. And if CEOs get deferred compensation in the form of stocks, then that benefit should be applied all the way down to the least paid worker in the company.

[Uncle Joe]

17. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread left of center.

[stonecutter357]

20. tax returns?

[dlk]

25. Has Bernie Said Anything About the Golden Parachutes for Toys R Us Execs?

Toys R Us employees are getting kicked to the curb with nothing while executives for the company pay themselves royally. This would be a perfect matter for Bernie to address.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

41. You know that's coming... Bernie has their back, like always!

[lunamagica]

79. He didn't even say anything about his wife's golden parachute after she made Bulington College

go bankrupt

[vi5]

26. Wow, so many people parroting right wing talking points.....

..."How can he say he cares about the poor if he is rich?!?!?"

Right. Especially since all those politicians with D's after their name who are so poor and who advocate so fiercely for the poor and income inequality.

I mean Chuck Schumer is out there in rags and living in a run down apartment while tirelessly going on and on about Wall street corruption and inequality, right?

Pathetic

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

40. So right vi5... it's BEYOND pathetic!

[Tribalceltic]

27. Bashing Disney as they offer pay raises?

[link:https://www.clickorlando.com/news/disney-offers-to-pay-union-members-at-least-15-per-hour-by-2021|

And they allow Unions. I'm not sure i'm seeing the point in bashing a company that sounds like it's getting more progressive.

Pot, meet kettle... you are both non-white

[dameatball]

31. DisneyWorld (FL) has been partly unionized since the 70's.

I won't try and overstate, because I'm not sure how many employees were unionized. I'm pretty sure the supply chain was. I moved from that area long ago, so things could have changed since then.

[Uncle Joe]

37. Disney is offering to give with the left hand and take away with the right

After months of negotiating, Walt Disney World has finally offered Orlando theme park workers a contract that would get them to a $15 hourly wage, but it comes at the cost of key union protections and benefits.

Disney's proposal would raise the current minimum wage ($10 per hour) about a dollar every year until reaching $15 per hour by the fall of 2021. The company will also distribute the $1,000 bonus it previously denied to employees with the Service Trades Council Union until a contract was approved.

In exchange, though, workers would have to concede benefits regarding overtime, holiday pay, grievance procedures and scheduling.

"Almost every one of those proposals was taking back benefits or conditions on employment we had bargained for over last 45 years," says Ed Chambers, president of UFCW Local 1625 and chair of the coalition of six unions. "They're basically wiping out 45 years of progress."


https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2018/05/04/disney-offers-orlando-union-workers-15-per-hour-proposal-that-cuts-protections

[jalan48]

36. The CorpoPipo won't like Bernie's words.

[PatrickforO]

45. Wish I could recommend your post.

Corpopipo is very apropos.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

82. Lol. Perfect!

[exboyfil]

43. I wish some good economist would come up with a graphic

that shows where the $150/day ticket actually goes for.

[PatrickforO]

44. I just have one word here : UNIONIZE

You all know - this giant tax cut for billionaires and big corporations that just got passed? Companies did not pass on any of that extra cash to workers. You know what they did?

They bought back shares.

You know why they did that?

Because the fiduciary responsibility of a CEO is ONLY to increase earnings for shareholders.

This is why workers will NEVER get a better share of the profits (and there can be NO profits without workers) unless they act together and force management to acquiesce.

Workers need to be protected at higher levels than now. I'm talking healthcare, structured pensions, reasonable job security, safe working conditions and adequately funded safety nets.

[TheBlackAdder]

50. Disney & Koch's uses Ernst & Young to dodge US taxes by shipping profits to Luxembourg.

.

They pay less that 1% income tax on the money they shift to Luxembourg... waiting for a Tax Amnesty Day.


https://www.icij.org/investigations/luxembourg-leaks/new-leak-reveals-luxembourg-tax-deals-disney-koch-brothers-empire/

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/11/business/disney-and-koch-industries-had-luxembourg-tax-deals-journalists-group-says.html

.

[KPN]

52. Oh wonderful. Another Bernie bashing

opportunity.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

56. Sir... may I please have another?

[KPN]

81. Lol!

[nolabels]

83. Naw, they just need to own a large chunk of controlling interests in broadcast media

Bernie should have realized the only way to fight city hall is to build your own city