Tuesday, 28 July 2026, 12:15
Supporters of raising Alameda County’s minimum wage to $30 gathered in the Glenview neighborhood of Oakland on Tuesday to celebrate collecting enough signatures to qualify the proposal for the November ballot. It was all smiles at Blackberry Bistro as members of the Living Wage for All Coalition filled the restaurant, introducing themselves to one another and sharing stories over food and beverages supplied by the bistro while event organizers celebrated the work they had done.
The Alameda County Living Wage for All Coalition announced Wednesday that it has turned in 106% of the signatures required to place a $30-per-hour minimum wage initiative on the November general election ballot. The coalition submitted 51,725 signatures to the Registrar of Voters office on Tuesday, surpassing the 48,797 threshold required to put the measure on the ballot — though the coalition stated it secured more than double the required amount, according to organizers. The measure would apply to unincorporated parts of the county, though organizers are also working on a similar initiative for Oakland. If approved by voters, it would become the highest minimum wage in the United States.
“This massive show of support makes clear what we’re hearing from voters across Alameda County and across the country: they’re done waiting. It’s past time for work to pay what it actually costs to live,” said Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage, a national nonprofit working to establish a living wage at the federal level, in eight states and the District of Columbia. “As the birthplace of so many historic movements, we’re so proud that Alameda County will be the first place to pass the highest and most inclusive minimum wage in United States history.” Jayaraman previously pointed to the MIT living wage calculator, which she says estimates a worker needs to earn over $40 an hour to survive anywhere in the county — particularly for those with children or dependents.
“Alameda County is one of the richest counties in the U.S., yet 40% of the people who live here — including thousands of UAW members — are struggling to afford a living,” UAW Region 6 Director Mike Miller said in a statement. “UAW members are proud to be part of the fight for a living wage in Alameda County, because we know that all working people deserve communities where they can thrive. By coming together with workers across the county, we can make that a reality.”
“It’s the top issue on every person’s mind who doesn’t earn $30,” said Saru Jayaraman, president of coalition partner One Fair Wage. “People are struggling to survive, to stay in their homes, to afford gas, to afford food to feed their children. They’re working multiple jobs and just feeling completely exhausted, defeated, and hopeless.”
Tonisha Scott, a manager at One Fair Wage, shared her personal experience at the celebration. She feels low wages are responsible for the county’s crisis of homelessness and have had a drastic impact on the people around her. “I've had multiple friends commit suicide just from stress,” Scott said. “Not making enough money is, um, it's stressful on anybody. Um, working multiple jobs where you're not getting enough sleep because you're going from one job directly to the next.” Scott, who is from Oakland — the city with the lowest minimum wage in Alameda County at $17.34 an hour — spent much of her career in the restaurant industry, at times making $14 an hour as a dishwasher. But when she started making $30 an hour working at One Fair Wage, she reflected, “I had never seen that kind of money before weekly. So I was able to catch up on bills. I was able to help my mom out, you know, some of my struggling friends because I had extra money for a change.”
Bradley Gentry, a manager at One Fair Wage, also spoke at the event. “Growing up here in Oakland, I done worked all kind of jobs. In the food service... from oil changes, and a whole bunch of stuff. The wages right now, it's being as low as it is, you can't survive off that,” he said.
Sonia Arana, a worker who experienced wage theft in Oakland, joined the fight through Trabajadores Unidos/Workers United. “The owner actually kept telling me like, 'Oh, next week,' or, 'I'll pay you some other time,' but that check actually never came,” Arana said through a translator. “I wasn't able to pay rent, I wasn't able to buy groceries. I have a daughter, so it was really hard for me to just make ends meet.” The wage hike initiative includes a provision that would allow workers like Sonia to recover triple the amount in lost wages.
The proposed Living Wage for All measure sets a staggered schedule: corporations with more than 100 employees and over $1 billion in revenue must reach $30/hour by 2030; businesses with 25–100 employees have until 2035; and those with fewer than 25 employees must comply by 2037. After the target is met, wages would rise annually by at least 3%. The initiative also strengthens enforcement, allowing workers who face illegal retaliation or wage theft to recover triple the lost wages.
Small- and medium-sized businesses would be given a larger runway to adjust to the increase. Businesses with 26 to 99 employees would be required to raise their minimum wage to $30 by 2035, while businesses with 25 or fewer employees would be given a full decade to raise their minimum wage to $30.
Alameda County is one of California's wealthiest counties, yet nearly 40% of its workforce earns less than $30/hour, according to an analysis by One Fair Wage using U.S. Census data. Current local minimums vary: Oakland's is $17.34 (with a living wage of $18.26–$20.97 for city contractors), Berkeley's is $19.61 (living wage $20.01–$23.33), and the state minimum is $16.90. Fast food workers in California earn at least $20/hour, and certain healthcare workers get $19.28–$24/hour. The measure would apply only to unincorporated areas, leaving cities to set their own floors.
Several cities in Alameda County currently have either a minimum wage ordinance, a living wage ordinance or both, but none are as high as that proposed by the Living Wage for All coalition. For example, Oakland's living wage is $18.26 hourly with health benefits and $20.97 without health benefits and it only applies to businesses with city contracts of about $25,000 or more or employers who get financial assistance or subsidies from the city worth about $100,000 or more. Oakland's minimum wage is $17.34 and it applies to most other workers in the city. Currently Berkeley's living wage is $20.01 per hour with medical benefits and $23.33 if no medical benefits are offered by the employer and, similar to Oakland's, it only applies to companies and nonprofit groups with city contracts of various amounts. Berkeley's minimum wage is $19.61 hourly for most other employees in the city. The minimum wage in California is $16.90 an hour for most employers. Fast food workers get at least $20 per hour and certain healthcare workers must also be paid a higher minimum wage, ranging from $19.28 to $24 an hour.
The campaign follows earlier minimum wage battles, including Oakland's 2014 Measure FF, which raised the city's minimum wage but faced opposition from some small businesses and elected officials. A super PAC called Americans for Opportunity has already urged rejection, arguing the measure would harm businesses and consumers. Supporters, including the Black Organizing Project, Trabajadores Unidos, and UAW Region 6, say the wage is needed to match the high cost of living in the Bay Area.
The campaign to increase the county's minimum wage stems from a previous effort to increase the minimum wage to $15. Organizers claim a strong majority of Alameda County voters support the initiative and that roughly 334,000 workers in the county would benefit from higher pay. Earlier this year, organizers said they were also collecting signatures to put a similar measure on the ballot for Oakland, but it's unclear if they were successful.
Some voters have expressed concern that raising the minimum wage would also drive up prices. But Jayaraman said a new study from Movement Economics – an Oakland-based research firm – that used government data and economic modeling to project the impact of a countywide wage increase. "It would increase cost by 0.9%, meaning 1% at most, over the length of the phase-in."
As for inflation concerns, Jayaraman said prices have already outpaced wages significantly. "Prices have already gone up dramatically in the last six years since the pandemic, more dramatically than we've seen in the past 75 years of inflation," she said. "Wages are just trying to catch up right now with the cost of living."
The coalition largely relied on workers from restaurants and retail shops to gather signatures and paid them $30 per hour for their work. This was vital to the campaign, Jayaraman said, not only to show the benefits of receiving $30 an hour, but also to demonstrate how financial stability allows workers to better participate in democracy itself.
Still, the prospect of a $30 minimum wage is daunting for some small business owners who have also faced challenges with rising costs. Joey Diaz-Varela, a manager for the Oakland coffee roaster and bakery Timeless Coffee, said that an increase as significant as what is being proposed would likely increase the cost of the shop’s $6.50 latte, but there may be benefits to the shop, too. “With every increase in the city (minimum wage), prices probably will increase,” said manager Joey Diaz-Varela. “But for employees, it just creates longevity at the job. If their wages go up, they would want to stay at it longer.”
Nigel Jones, owner of Oakland's Calabash Restaurant, acknowledged at the celebration that raising the minimum wage will be challenging for business owners, especially people of color. "But at the same time, you need to ensure that you have staff members that can survive and support your business, because if not, you're gonna have turnover after turnover," Jones said.
A working paper published in March by the Institute for Research and Labor and Employment reviewed inflationary effects of California’s $20 minimum wage for fast food workers of large chains. The paper – which has not been peer reviewed – found the policy “increased average weekly wages for covered fast food workers by 11% and did not reduce employment.” Meanwhile, costs for consumer items increased just 1.5%. Co-author of the paper, Michael Reich, said there are prevalent misconceptions about the negative effects of raising the minimum wage, as specific worker salaries are not the only costs businesses need to consider. “It’s a misconception that any time you raise the price of labor, (businesses) are going to hire fewer workers. That seems intuitive, but the labor market doesn’t work that way. Why? Because recruiting, screening and training new workers are costly,” Reich said. “As a result, firms have a choice whether they are going to pay low wages and have high worker turnover, or pay higher wages with lower turnover.”
The estimated inflationary effects of a proposed $30 minimum wage are negligible, Jayaraman said, with just a 0.9% increase over a decade of implementation. The bigger issue, she said, is the lost buying power that is stifling workers’ lives. “The benefit to workers – who will get almost a 50% wage increase over many years – far outweighs any of the cost increases,” Jayaraman said. “The real problem is not that this is going to contribute to inflation; the real problem is that wages have nowhere near kept up with the cost of living.”
The Alameda County Registrar of Voters must still validate the signatures before the measure officially qualifies for the ballot. The Registrar has 30 business days to verify the signatures, then the Board of Supervisors will vote to place it on the November ballot at their Aug. 4 meeting. Interim Registrar Cynthia Cornejo wasn’t available for comment. If it passes, Alameda County would set a national precedent for minimum wage levels. Voters will decide in November whether to make $30/hour the new standard for unincorporated parts of the county.
