City Government

OP-ED: $15/hr. Minimum Wage Increase Can Raise Families from Poverty

Published

12 years ago

May 13, 2014

I’m sure you know people making minimum or near minimum wage. You probably know someone who is not a teenager struggling to get by on a low wage job. In fact half of the people in our country making minimum wage are 25 years of age or older.

We don’t need elaborate statistics to describe what an extra $10,000 per year would do for the lives of these people we all know. An increase in the minimum wage would help raise individuals and families from poverty.

Parents would no longer have to decide between paying the bills and buying food. The health and well being of entire communities would improve because, as we know, poverty causes anxiety and stress, which cause physical and mental illness.

My name is Dan Siegel and I’m running for Mayor of Oakland on a platform of social and economic justice. I will fight for a living wage in Oakland, and that means $15/hr.

Such a wage would provide an extra $10,000 in income for every Oaklander who would otherwise be making $10/hr. when California’s minimum wage goes up on Jan. 1, 2016.

Right now there are dedicated people out on the streets gathering signatures to put the question of a $12.25/hr. minimum wage in front of voters in November. It’s a good first step, and I support that effort – after all, it will mean an extra $4,500 for every minimum wage worker.

But that still isn’t a living wage in the Bay Area; rent alone will consume more than half of a $25,000 per year wage, the equivalent of $12.25/hr.

A $15 minimum wage with paid sick leave – which increases with inflation, just the way your rent and food costs do – will create an Oakland where all workers have a solid prospect of being economically secure.

Fighting for social and economic justice has been my inspiration as a civil rights attorney and as a member of the Oakland School Board. Raising the minimum wage is one more aspect of the struggle.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

Braves Shutout Giants In Rare Win

Don't Miss

Marijuana-Derived Epilepsy Drug in Clinical Trial for Children

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

Published

7 days ago

July 5, 2026

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Inaugural Juneteenth Awards Ceremony Celebrates the Fillmore’s Black History, Leadership and Resilience

Addressing more than 100 Black and Asian attendees, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated “San Francisco is reliant on the Black community, and we must invest in this community.”

Published

2 weeks ago

June 26, 2026

Oakland Post

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, Rev. Dr. Amos Brown, Pastor Emeritus of Third Baptist Church, SF Mayor Daniel Lurie. Photo by Linda Parker Pennington.

By Linda Parker Pennington

The Fillmore Community Ambassadors held its first annual Juneteenth Wesley Johnson White Horse Awards ceremony on June 19 inside the newly reopened Fillmore Heritage Center.

The event featured awards for former San Francisco mayors London Breed and Willie Brown, along with Third Baptist Church Pastor Emeritus, Rev. Dr. Amos Brown.

The Koret Heritage lobby at the newly reopened center at 1330 Fillmore St. held a standing-room-only, culturally diverse and multi-generational audience while the art gallery featured photos of Fillmore community members in action, red Japanese lanterns, art and calligraphy, and Chinese artwork, giving the space a multicultural feel.

Addressing more than 100 Black and Asian attendees, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated “San Francisco is reliant on the Black community, and we must invest in this community.”

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood acknowledged that “the Fillmore community has had a difficult history. Thanks to Rev. Amos Brown’s continuous focus on accountability and resistance, you hold us accountable and continue to inspire us.”

Mahmoud is referring to the Fillmore’s Japanese residents who were forced from their homes and sent to concentration camps during World War II. Black people occupied those homes until the return of their Japanese neighbors and then gave them back, while homes that had been unoccupied were lost. The presence of the Asian community on Juneteenth is a testament to that shared history.

In receiving his honor, Amos Brown elicited a powerful spontaneous call-and-response, where members of San Francisco’s many Black churches proudly shouted out the names: “Bethel AME! Providence Baptist! Jones Memorial! Glide!”

Awards program Master of Ceremonies Shawn Richards of Brothers Against Guns warmly introduced Breed, highlighting her many accomplishments, particularly on “March 16, 2020, when she became the first mayor to shut down a major U.S. city due to COVID-19, saving thousands of lives.”

The audience was captivated by Breed’s emotional speech touching on past traumas, present conditions, and future hopes for the neighborhood where she grew up.

She recalled another trauma of the neighborhood during the City’s redevelopment era in the 1960s, where Black residents were forced to move with a promise of being able to return that was largely unfulfilled.

“We remember when this land was just a field because they bulldozed hundreds of Victorian homes that Black people owned. They built the Fillmore Center, where most Black people can’t afford to live or start their own business. But we are still here.”