Posted on 04/01/2026 8:19:37 PM PDT by Libloather
Oakland workers are ready to be paid a lot more.
Worker advocates in Oakland are pressing for a $30 minimum wage, mirroring a similar goal from socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani from across the country.
A worker’s organization, One Fair Wage, is hoping to put forward a ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage in the area. The organization believes the wage increase will help workers with the expensive cost of living in the Bay Area, especially with the affordability crisis.
The push comes as Oakland continues grappling with a deep structural budget shortfall and ongoing fiscal instability, with officials warning recurring expenses are outpacing revenue.
“Every time there has been a downturn or a serious challenge to the economy, in the end, we raise wages as a stimulus,” Saru Jayaraman, the president of One Fair Wage, told Center Square.
“It’s basically a stimulus in the hands of working people, who spend a much bigger percentage of their income than higher-income people because they have to. It’s survival,” she added.
One Fair Wage says the proposed ballot initiative would gradually institute the $30 minimum wage within the city and Alameda County until reaching the proposed amount in 2030. Oakland’s current minimum wage is $17.34 an hour, and California’s minimum wage sits at $16.90 an hour.
A $30 minimum wage would be the highest in the country. New York City legislators introduced a bill last month to also introduce a $30 minimum wage.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
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I think they still get paid more on welfare, food stamps, medicaid benefits etc, and with 40hrs/week more in free time.
At $30/hour, how much will a Big Mac cost? This crazy trend is pushing companies towards more automation which will eliminate these low-skill jobs altogether.
So writes someone who does not understand Econ 101 - the non-Marxist version, that is.
How is that $20 minimum wage working out for fast food workers in California?
"Businesses have responded by slashing shifts, reducing available hours, and limiting hiring. One McDonald's owner reported an 11.5% drop in hours worked, equivalent to losing about 62 full-time positions. Restaurants raised menu prices by 8-12%, accelerated automation with self-order kiosks, and cut overtime, leaving many workers with fewer opportunities and even jeopardizing benefit eligibility.
Some businesses have responded to the wage hikes not by reducing worker hours but by just closing stores outright.
A National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) study published in July 2025 found that the state’s fast-food sector lost 18,000 jobs between April 2024."
https://notthebee.com/article/lets-check...y-shall-we
A six-foot hole is far too deep for a fence company.
You might have to split that job; one to dig the hole and another to set the pipe and concrete.
I'd look at well-drilling companies, including those that bore monitoring wells. I'd also look at contractors who installs bollards like you find at tractor trailer loading docks. A pile-driving company would also be worth looking at.
You might find a capable company that normally does septic systems or landscaping. Landscaping companies often dig out dry wells.
Fine. glory in your HOA. I prefer to have some control over my own property.
Politicians’ handlers put a high minimum wage in place to incentivize employers to hire illegal aliens under the table.
Fast Food Worker Pay in Oakland, CA
Fast food workers in Oakland, CA earn about $20.25 per hour on average in 2025, which equals roughly $810 per week, $3,510 per month, and $42,120 per year oysterlink.com. This is significantly higher than the U.S. national average of about $13.90/hour and $28,912/year oysterlink.com.
I'd rather workers get $30/hr and off all welfare and SNAP. But that is just me.
“We can’t find anybody” is code for “We can’t find anybody who’ll work for our meager wages”.
Bingo
Well diggers can bore that hole in 5 minutes.
Maybe if were are all smart about it we should all demand a 30% pay cut? Think of how cheap everything would be!!!
A worker makes $20/hr and makes 30 Big Macs per hour. Labor charge is 66 cents per Mac.
He gets a raise to $30/hr. The labor charge is now $1.00/hr. A 34 cent per Mac increase. WOW, WE ARE ALL GONNA DIE!
It is all about tax revenue for the govt, local, county and state.
They don't give a fig regards the worker.
The increased wages places workers in higher tax brackets so the state simply rakes in more.
The result of increased wages is price of everything goes up accordingly.
The increased cash flow generates more tax, which is collected every time money changes hands, as a per cent of the amount of money being exchanged.
Bottom line? Increase wages=increased prices (where the increased wages come from)=increased tax revenues, without the legislators getting the blame for increasing taxes.
What's not to love?
I have yet to meet the business owner that reaches into their own bank account to pay employees more, and does not go out of business.
Don't forget the fryer guy and the soda guy and the window order person and the guy who mops. So the $10 meal will jump to $15 and as we've seen people stop buying Big Mac meals. So McDonalds has to go back to their dollar menu, reduce the workforce, get more automation for the fryer, and besides losing customers they lose workers ushering in the end of the fast food industry as we know it with 6-10 staffers. The building goes up for sale along with the pharmacy on every corner and the homeless move in to occupy the building. Thus reducing property values and making Oakland more crime ridden. Those staffers with limited work skills go on unemployment so our taxes go up as we migrate to a socialist state.
There are a lot of videos on You Tube of regular folk just walking around the streets of Deep Blue s**tholes like Oakland.
The commentary may or may not be enlightening but the pictures speak for themselves.
LMAO! you can go ahead and jack it up to $1000, but it won’t matter when the only employers left will be the bankrupt city government
Instead, these areas are filled with low skill jobs in bodegas, liquor stores, and nail salons, all perfect for turd world illegal aliens. And the local population can't afford goods or services provided by anyone other than such low-skilled employees.
Raising the minimum wage isn't to increase prices or income tax revenue, it's to incentivize employers to hire illegal aliens under the table.
less and less jobs as the politicians drive jobs away and import (and inculcate) dependency
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h52wODvtZG8
Regards the dumps you mention, in CA, most illegals get more living asistance in the way of free med, free health, free housing, free food, free daycare, free school, paid for by those who send in that difference between gross and net.
legislators are simply buying votes, and sticking those same voters with the bill,via higher cost of living, without the voters even realizing it.
Ca legislators do not see (ignore) the difference between legal and illegal workers, indeed, they work tirelessly to erase the line.
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