The Walt Disney Company, or the “Disney corporation,” as he referred to it, for unfairly compensating its workers and representing another corporation benefiting from an unjustly rigged economy.
Much as he has with his frequent invocations of Wal-Mart as an example of a rigged economic system, Sanders stared right at the Dumbo in the room.
“Let me just start off and be very blunt. We’re here in Anaheim. Everybody knows the major economic force here in Anaheim is the Disney corporation. Anybody here work for Disney?” Sanders asked. The crowd cheered. Sanders then asked, “Anybody here making a living wage from Disney?” The audience responded with a louder, “No!”
Sanders then boasted, “I’m probably the only politician to come to Anaheim and say this. I use Disney not to pick on Disney but as an example of what we are talking about when we talk about a rigged economy.”
“Here in Anaheim and the surrounding areas, Disney pays its workers wages that are so low that many of them are forced to live in motels because they can’t afford a decent place to live,” Sanders said, as the crowd booed. “Meanwhile Disney made a record-breaking profit of nearly $3 billion last quarter.” (Disney’s $2.9 billion profit came in the first fiscal quarter of 2016 reported in January; in its most recent report of the second quarter on May 10, the company reported earnings of $2.1 billion.)
At Walt Disney World in Florida, Sanders noted, the company replaced 250 workers with low-wage foreign workers through H1-B visas. “Meanwhile the CEO of Disney made $46.5 million in total compensation last year,” Sanders said, as the crowd booed again. “That is what we’re talking about in a rigged economy.”
Disney CEO Robert Iger made $46.5 million in 2014, however; in 2015, he earned a total of $44.9 million.
The Walt Disney Company did not immediately return a request for comment.
(via: Breitbart)
