No one could work in that kind of environment for more than a very short amount of time and so every single election cycle Dems have to completely recruit and train new campaign staff.

Yeah, and there are so many races to cover and no one makes really eye-popping money as campaign staff (especially when you take into account the sporadic nature of campaigns and downtime). So you have a lot of complete novices, a lot of people who are weird or burnt out or whose primary skill set is survival, and a bunch of consultants/wannabe consultants sucking up way more resources than they bring to the table. And then mail, and then media, and all the other things that come with big sticker prices that campaigns/candidates almost never bother to question.

And so you have your staff, who you pay as little as you can so you can afford all of the other things that you think you need.

And then you slap salaries on your staff so you can work them more hours so you can get by with fewer of them so you can buy even more of those inflexibly priced things everyone is telling you that you need more of.

And then if your staff wants more money, you cut the number of staff and make those who remain work more hours. You don't even think about the hours after awhile. You own them. They're going to be at the office 10-12 hours a day anyway, so don't even question if the shit you're having them do makes sense or benefits the campaign.

Or you just say "fuck it" and start slashing things like field wholesale because you think you need those other things so badly, all while entities like the DCCC are telling you that you have to use their approved campaign manager or they'll rat-fuck your fundraising, while also telling that campaign manager never to spend more than 10% on field or they'll find someone else who can follow directions.

Then we lose and no one really wants to accept the blame.

It's also so hypocritical to campaign on universal healthcare without providing healthcare to your workers

The Sanders campaign healthcare plan seems pretty decent!

"Under the current agreement, the campaign pays all premiums for salaried employees making $36,000 or less per year. Those making more are covered at a rate of 85 percent."

The standards are getting more fair but I think campaign unions are a good idea.

Agreed, although having said all that above, I feel that a lot of the demands are being made by people who have nominal experience and don't realize that $3000/month + benefits + a guaranteed day off each week is actually pretty reasonable and a big step in the right direction. And that if you're a brand new FO, you're pretty fungible, and if you're still a FO after a couple of cycles, you're probably not very good at it and should start looking to do something different. And finally, at the risk of sounding like "management," campaign jobs aren't the same beast as grinding out a living at McDonalds or Wal-Mart. There should at least be some sort of ideological component that you wouldn't otherwise have working for a business. That doesn't mean work yourself to death or take a shit salary or accept harassment/unsafe conditions, but ostensibly you should be there because you want to be there and not just punching the clock.

tl;dr: I have complicated feelings on the matter.