Walmart’s shareholder meeting drew some star power on Wednesday, just not the kind the retailer was hoping for.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) crashed the annual confab near Bentonville, Arkansas, to demand at least $15 per hour for Walmart employees and their placement on the company’s board of directors. The Democratic presidential hopeful held up the world’s largest retailer as a symbol of income inequality in the U.S.

“People are earning wages that are so inadequate they cannot provide for their families ... and that’s absurd,” the Vermont independent said in a campaign video filmed in a car on his way to the meeting. “What we’re doing today is telling the wealthiest family in the country, the Walton family that owns Walmart, that they have got to start paying their workers a living wage.”

He later delivered a speech to Walmart employees and supporters outside the convention center, clarifying that a living wage means “at least 15 bucks an hour.”

Kory Lundberg, a Walmart spokesman, said new employees now start out making at least $11 per hour, due to recent increases to the company’s minimum wage. He said that combined with benefits the average hourly employee earns $17.50 an hour in total compensation.

“We’ve invested $4.5 billion in four years on increased pay, expanded health benefits for full and part time associates, put in place a debt free college plan and have created 200 training academies across the country to help associates develop transferable job skills,” Lundberg said in response to Sanders’ criticisms.