‘Not surprised that a billionaire is cheating scum’: Mike Bloomberg is blasted by former campaign staffers after he fires them despite promising competitive pay and health benefits until November
- Staffers who worked on Mike Bloomberg’s presidential campaignb were let go on Friday
- Some took to social media to complain about the terminations, which came after they were given guarantees of competitive pay and benefits through November
- Instead, Bloomberg ended his plan to start a super PAC and donated $18 million to the Democratic National Committee
- In response to the complaints, the ex-staffers say they were invited to apply to the DNC for jobs
- The layoffs come a day after the former workers were told two floors of Bloomberg’s Manhattan headquarters were exposed to the coronavirus
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Hundreds of staffers who worked on Mike Bloomberg’s defunct presidential campaign were laid off Friday after he announced he was shutting down the operation and letting the Democratic National Committee take over.
Bloomberg’s decision came after the former staffers, including some who were let go during an earlier round of terminations, said they were hoping the billionaire media mogul would have lived up to a promise to keep them on the payroll until November.
Those expectations were lost when the ex-staffers were put on notice in conference calls Friday that Bloomberg was not going forward with pans for a super PAC, and instead was giving $18 million to the DNC and its presumptive nominee for the 2020 presidential election, former vice president Joe Biden.
Hundreds of staffers who worked on Mike Bloomberg’s defunct presidential campaign were laid off Friday after he announced he was shutting down the operation and letting the Democratic National Committee take over. He is pictured at a Florida campaign event
Bloomberg’s decision came after the former staffers said they were hoping the billionaire media mogul would have lived up to a promise to keep them on the payroll until November. He is pictured leaving supporters after his abysmal performance on Super Tuesday
Staffers were put on notice in conference calls Friday that Bloomberg was not going forward with pans for a super PAC, and instead was giving $18 million to the DNC and its presumptive nominee for the 2020 presidential election, former vice president Joe Biden (pictured)
Some among the former staffers, including Amol Jethwani, took to social media to air their fury over being fired
Twitter user Jonathan Rufrano tweeted directly at Bloomberg’s former campaign manager, Kevin Sheekey, saying he had just got off the phone with the campaign’s leadership to confirm that ex-staffers weren’t getting paid through November
Some among the former staffers took to social media to air their fury over being fired.
‘I guess it’s cheaper to give the DNC 18 million than keep promises because @MikeBloomberg just fired his whole campaign staff – including those of us promised jobs through November on his IE. Dissapointed I don’t have a job. Not surprised that a billionaire is cheating scum!’ tweeted Amol Jethwani, a former Bloomberg aide.
Twitter user Jonathan Rufrano tweeted directly at Bloomberg’s former campaign manager, Kevin Sheekey, saying he had just got off the phone with the campaign’s leadership to confirm that ex-staffers weren’t getting paid through November.
Rufrano adds ‘their concession was also insulting. ‘Apply for campaign jobs through the DNC. No guaranteed positions, pay is much lower.’ @ksheekey.’
Bloomberg, in a tweet he posted Friday, the same day as the layoffs, reminded that he ran for president to ‘do whatever it takes’ to defeat US President Donald Trump, and for that reason he was throwing his support behind the DNC, which he called the ‘group that matters most in this fight’.
The former candidate quit the presidential race March 4, after spending $1 billion to only win 44 delegates.
Others in interviews said the news couldn’t come at a worse time, with the economy plunging into a recession because of the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. The former campaign workers told Politico that the were repeatedly mislead about future opportunities.
‘I am disgusted by Mike Bloomberg and his staff,’ a Bloomber aide said, who spoke on the condition of anonymity Friday. ‘He has left us with no health insurance during this pandemic. I have a family and do not know what we will do at the end of the month.’
The aid added, ‘If the DNC and Joe Biden choose to ignore us, they are complicit as well. How can the party claim to care about working Americans while taking money from a billionaire that does not fulfill his promises to his employees?’
The terminations also came a day after the campaign alerted the ex-staffers that two floors of Bloomberg’s Manhattan headquarters were exposed to the coronavirus.
The layoffs included several dozen people who were in the New York office, and who may have been at risk. They are now finishing up what they owe the campaign from home and have health insurance through the end of March.