Socialists Push For $20 Minimum Wage But Won’t Pay Workers That Much

The Freedom Socialist Party wants the minimum
wage to be $20 an hour. However, they don’t feel compelled to
compensate their own workers with that kind of cash.

The party is looking for a web developer, and posted a job
listing on Craigslist
a week ago and
Indeed.com yesterday, and it’s been raising
eyebrows on social media.

Although the average annual salary of a web developer in the
U.S. is around $62,500,
the Freedom Socialist Party only wants to pay $13 an hour, which
would be $26,000 a year. Except that the party won’t hire someone
full-time, so their next web developer’s total compensation won’t
even be that modest chunk of change. Perhaps they’re just trying to
protect their employees from the temptations of “capitalist
greed.”

In case it vanishes or gets amended, the
entire listing is below:

According to
the party’s last presidential platform, these self-described
Marxists want:

“jobs program at union wages with childcare available”

“no cuts to Social Security, Medicaid or Medicare. Raise the
minimum wage to $20 an hour. Provide a guaranteed annual income.
Free medical care for all, including reproductive services and
abortion.”

Reason contacted the party and confirmed that the
listing is legitimate, and that in spite of the party’s commitment
to unionizing laborers, the available position is not a
union job. Don’t count on any of those other sweet benefits either,
part-timer.

The Freedom Socialist Party applauded the push for a $15 minimum
wage in Seattle earlier this year,
stating that the city is unlivable otherwise, “compromise
destroys solidarity,” that the party must “leave no one
behind.”

One could argue that it’s not fair to pick on small
organizations like the Freedom Socialist Party, because they can’t
afford high-pay web developers. Given the requirements they list,
chances are they’re looking for a high school or college student
who is just starting out in the field. But, these are exact reasons
why people argue against artificially high minimum
wages. It’s not “capitalist greed,” but the understanding that it
puts a barrier between a small organizations with limited funding
and low-skill workers who want to earn experience.