Bernie Sanders has long been one of the most voiced supporters of paying employees $15 per hour across the nation.

Now many of Sanders’ staffers have come forward claiming that Bernie isn’t even paying all his own staff his suggested minimum wage.

According to Fox News,

Bernie Sanders defended his campaign’s treatment of staffers and said he was “very proud” to lead the first U.S. presidential campaign to have unionized workers — one day after The Washington Post reported the campaign’s field staff were complaining about receiving “poverty wages.”

“We have a historic contract agreement that provides unprecedented protections and benefits,” Sanders said in a statement Friday. “Through that framework, we are committed to addressing concerns in good faith through the bargaining process.”

“I’m very proud to be the first presidential candidate to recognize a union and negotiate a union contract,” the Vermont senator and presidential candidate told the Des Moines Register in an interview Friday. “And that contract was ratified by the employees of the campaign, and it not only provides pay of at least $15 an hour, it also provides, I think, the best health care benefits that any employer can provide for our field organizers.” 

In a letter sent to Faiz Shakir, Bernie’s campaign manager, Sanders wrote, “Given our campaign’s commitment to fighting for a living wage of at least $15.00 an hour we believe it is only fair that the campaign would carry through this commitment to its own field team. Many field staffers are barely managing to survive financially, which is severely impacting our team’s productivity and morale.”

The letter also says some staffers on Bernie’s campaign have already left the campaign because of this very reason.

The field organizers, which are the lowest-ranking members of a presidential campaign and thereby the least paid typically make $36,000 a year with 100% employer-paid health care, as well as paid vacation and sick leave. So at a 40 hour work week, that’s $17 per hour.

However, they do not work 40 hour weeks, it’s usually more. So now Sanders said that the campaign will limit the number of hours staffers work to 42 or 43 each week to ensure they’re making the equivalent of $15 an hour.