The socialist party in Seattle, that wants to raise the federal minimum wage to $20 per hour, advertised a job last week for an experienced web developer paying just $13 per hour the Huffington Post reports. “We’re practicing what we’re preaching in terms of continuing to fight for the minimum wage,” Barnes said, making his first public comment on the controversy. “But we can’t pay a lot more than $13.”
Doug Barnes, the party’s national secretary, continues to support the $20 an hour stance because he thinks the party’s revenues would increase if the minimum wage were raised to $20 — and he’d even prefer $22, at least in Seattle. “Our donor base would all be affected, and the low-wage workers who support us with $5 to $6 a month would be able to give more,” he said. “That would affect our ability to pay higher wages as well.”
The listing for the $13 job has since been removed from Craigslist in response to the online criticism. “The right-wing attack is very hypocritical,” he said. “These are the same people who fought against the minimum wage and support companies like Walmart.”
He said the Freedom Socialist Party, which impressively owns the domain name www.socialism.com, was formed in 1966 as a revolutionary feminist breakaway group from the United States Socialist Workers Party and does not accept donations from corporations.
