Bob Iger is overpaid, according to Bernie Sanders.
The longtime senator from Vermont took the Disney chief exec to task on Friday, asking in a tweet why Iger is paid hundreds of millions of dollars, while workers at Disney theme parks struggle to make ends meet.
“Does Disney CEO Bob Iger have a good explanation for why he is being compensated more than $400 million while workers at Disneyland are homeless and relying on food stamps to feed their families?” tweeted Sanders.
Does Disney CEO Bob Iger have a good explanation for why he is being compensated more than $400 million while workers at Disneyland are homeless and relying on food stamps to feed their families?
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) July 13, 2018
Iger cleared $36 million in 2017, despite a 17 percent pay cut. A recent study by ISS Analytics for Reuters showed Iger could make $423 million in the next four years if he hits all of his performance targets.
This wasn’t the first time Sanders has knocked Disney for the disparity in pay between its executives and its Disneyland employees. Sanders told Bill Maher on “Real Time” last month he’d be rallying with Disneyland workers in Anaheim, California, as they pushed for a minimum $15 per hour wage.
“The struggle that you are waging here in Anaheim is not just for you,” Sanders told Disneyland workers last month. “It is a struggle for millions of workers all across this country who are sick and tired of working longer hours for lower wages.”
Sanders is calling out other major companies, too. He’s holding a town hall event on Monday to discuss “something that is never discussed,” with workers from Amazon, American Airlines, Walmart, McDonald’s, as well as Disney. The conversation will be live-streamed on the senator’s Facebook page.
Please join me, along with workers from Amazon, Disney, McDonald’s, American Airlines and Walmart, for a town hall this Monday night at 7pm where we will discuss something that is never discussed. It will be livestreamed at https://t.co/TIdQMUk3ML. You don't want to miss it. pic.twitter.com/t6CehWNtoO
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) July 12, 2018
Sanders is expected to put his hat in the ring again for the 2020 presidential election.
Iger has said in the past that he has considered running for president.