Jack Crowe, DCNF

The Democratic Party is pushing for a federal $15 minimum wage as part of its recently revealed “Better Deal” economic platform, despite paying its own field organizers significantly less than that during the 2016 election cycle.

The new platform, announced Monday at a press conference in Berryville, Va., aims to ingratiate the Democratic Party with blue collar voters through populist economic messaging focused on prioritizing the interests of workers over those of corporate interests.

However, the same party pushing the dubious $15 minimum wage chose not to implement the policy itself during the 2016 election.

A group of roughly 40 field workers filed a class action lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and six state party organizations in May, alleging that they were not fairly compensated for their work during the 2016 campaign. The field organizers claim to have been paid $3,000 per month while consistently working 80 to 90 hours per week.

Justin Swidler, the attorney representing the workers, described their treatment as “obscene.”

“These workers were out there in a campaign that was promising $15 an hour minimum wage, and expanding the overtime rights of workers,” Swidler told CBS News. Swidler did not respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

The DNC’s decision to give the executive director a $300,000 bonus after the failed election cycle exacerbated workers’ complaints, as their wages were left well short of $15 per hour.

Democratic leadership elected to include the federal $15 minimum wage as part of their economic agenda in the face of their own real world experience as employers, as well as overwhelming external evidence indicating that the policy has harmed low wage workers and small businesses in American cities that have tried it.

A Heritage Foundation study found that, if the Democrats take the $15 minimum wage policy nationwide, it would eliminate 7 million jobs.

Ironically, the federal $15 minimum wage would likely most severely harm the very people the Democrats are trying to reach in time for the 2018 midterm elections: blue collar, rural voters.

“Minimum wage increases are anti-stimulus packages for rural, low-wage areas,” Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior attorney Hans Bader told TheDCNF.

“Why? Because they cost consumers more than they provide in benefits to workers, even when the workers don’t lose their jobs. Consumers pay higher prices due to minimum wage increases. But the gain received by workers is partly offset by the tax code,” Bader said.

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