Sen. Bernie Sanders urged The Walt Disney Company to redistribute the profits from its latest blockbuster film.
“What would be truly heroic is if Disney used its profits from Avengers to pay all of its workers a middle class wage, instead of paying its CEO Bob Iger $65.6 million – over 1,400 times as much as the average worker at Disney makes,” the Vermont independent and Democratic presidential hopeful said Monday.
Sanders linked a Bloomberg article touting Disney’s record profits in part from its first weekend haul for “Avengers: Endgame.”
What would be truly heroic is if Disney used its profits from Avengers to pay all of its workers a middle class wage, instead of paying its CEO Bob Iger $65.6 million – over 1,400 times as much as the average worker at Disney makes. https://t.co/NrcFSk4LZc
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) April 29, 2019
In 2018, Disney’s labor union made an agreement with the company to pay all its workers at least $15 an hour by 2021. Sanders, a socialist, helped lead the fight, holding a town hall on Disney and regularly criticizing the company on Twitter.
Earlier this month, Abigail Disney, the granddaughter of Roy Disney, called Iger’s pay “insane.” Disney asked why Iger was not paying low-level employees more while taking in bonuses for himself.
Let me very clear. I like Bob Iger. I do NOT speak for my family but only for myself. Other than owning shares (not that many) I have no more say in what happens there than anyone else. But by any objective measure a pay ratio over a thousand is insane. https://t.co/O34OjXd6rr
— Abigail Disney (@abigaildisney) April 21, 2019
“Avengers: Endgame,” which opened last weekend, almost doubled the record for largest worldwide opening weekend with a $1.2 billion haul, beating the previous record $640 million of “Avengers: Infinity War.”
Sanders has polled as a front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination since his announcement in February.
