Economics

OP-ED: Better Pay Comes Only When We Demand It

Published

11 years ago

May 27, 2015

Los Angeles just voted to raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020. The nation’s second-biggest city joins Seattle, San Francisco and little Emeryville, Calif., in forging the way to a decent minimum.

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Similar measures are now being considered in New York City, Kansas City, Mo., and Washington, D.C., the nation’s capital. Facebook is now paying its workers a $15 minimum and joins Apple and Microsoft in demanding that its contractors pay a $15 minimum and offer paid leave days.

These victories are a product of the demonstrations and protests of fast food and other low-wage workers. They risked their jobs to demand decency.

They put a human face on workers who labor full time but can’t lift their families out of poverty. They exposed the lie that these were transitory jobs for the young while they went to college or high school.

Their demonstrations — organized under the hashtag slogan #FightFor15 — drew national press attention. Their struggles touched the hearts of citizens of conscience. They built the coalition that forced the politicians to respond.

Dr. Martin Luther King taught us that “freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” There are three ways to respond to repression, he told us. The first is acquiescence, adjusting quietly to injustice and becoming conditioned to it. “Been down so long it feels like up to me.”

Acquiescence, he warned, turns people into part of the problem.

The second way to respond is with physical violence and corrosive hatred. But violence never solves problems; it simply creates more difficult and complicated problems. An eye for an eye, he warned, would leave us all blinded.

The third way is nonviolent resistance. Nonviolence rejects acquiescence and violence. It confronts the oppressor, gives voice to the oppressed, and exposes the injustice. It starts always against the odds, so it requires faith. “Faith,” Dr. King wrote, “is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”

The #FightFor15 workers had faith. They chose to resist, not accept their poverty wages. They demonstrated for decency. And they have created a movement that surely will spread across the country.

California is one of eight states that ban the subminimum wage that is inflicted on so-called “tipped workers,” the wait staff and service workers that serve our food, clear our plates or carry our bags.

California also voted to start publishing the names of companies that have more than 100 workers on Medicaid and the costs that they force on the states. Informed customers may well prefer to do business with high-road employers rather than those profiting from a low road.

Most of our news coverage follows the frozen partisan politics of Washington. There, Republican leaders in Congress won’t even allow a vote on a modest Democratic proposal for a $12-an-hour minimum wage.

The only time Congress seems to act is when the corporate community wants a tax break or a trade deal passed, or when the Pentagon demands more money to waste.

But across the country, people are beginning to stir. Blacks and whites are joining together to demonstrate that #BlackLivesMatter.

Latinos are demanding immigration reforms that will bring millions out of the shadow economy. Gays and lesbians are demanding equal rights. Women are demanding equal pay, and men and women are insisting that the decision to have a child has to be one that they and not politicians make.

Change will come, but only when people demand it and force their politicians to salute.

Oakland Post

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Activism

At the event, 16 entities signed the EIP pledge, vowing to take steps to increase public contracting opportunities in their spheres for small and historically underutilized businesses. The pledge signees included Hub International, the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California High-Speed Rail Authority, the Port of Oakland, Robert Graham of Webcor Builders, Holder Construction, the Weitz Company, Sky Blue Builders, Hornblower, Swinerton, Luster National, Talson Solutions, Center for Community Wealth Building, and the Construction Contractors Alliance.

Published

1 week ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Toks Omishakin, secretary of the California State Transportation Agency, was one of the speakers at the event. Photo by Shellee Fisher Photography and Design.

By Calvin Naito, Special to The Post

On June 4, a national nonprofit named the Equity in Infrastructure Project (EIP) – which aims to increase public construction contracting opportunities for small and historically underutilized businesses – held a day-long event in downtown San Francisco to rally supporters and build momentum to its cause.

It was attended by more than 100 individuals from public agencies, private firms, and other organizations committed to increasing contracting opportunities with governmental agencies, thereby creating more competition and lowering public costs.

The EIP event was held the Hyatt Regency San Francisco in conjunction with BuildIT, which aims to increase contracting opportunities for LGBT-owned businesses.

At the event, 16 entities signed the EIP pledge, vowing to take steps to increase public contracting opportunities in their spheres for small and historically underutilized businesses.

The pledge signees included Hub International, the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California High-Speed Rail Authority, the Port of Oakland, Robert Graham of Webcor Builders, Holder Construction, the Weitz Company, Sky Blue Builders, Hornblower, Swinerton, Luster National, Talson Solutions, Center for Community Wealth Building, and the Construction Contractors Alliance.

Following the workshop, BuildIT hosted a VIP evening reception honoring EIP, whose principals – Phil Washington, John Procari, and Rick Jacobs – accepted the award.

The event also set in motion the coalition’s efforts to implement recommendations from EIP’s “Procurement for Prosperity: A Playbook.”

The Playbook is a practical guide for public agency leaders and procurement and contracting practitioners to grow the capacity of small and first-time contractors, strengthen competition, and deliver better value for taxpayers.

Toks Omishakin, Secretary of the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA), a long-time EIP supporter, also told attendees, “This is about commitment. This has been a life’s work. This is a tailwind moment.”

The event’s presenting sponsor was Hub International, one of the largest insurance brokerages in the nation, which was joined by partners Travelers Insurance and the State Compensation Insurance Fund.

After the pledge-signing ceremony, attendees participated in a workshop in which they examined the policies, practices, and programs needed to meet EIP goals, learned from practitioners, and identified next steps toward utilizing the Playbook.

Ingrid Meriwether, formerly of Merriwether & Williams Insurance Services (MWIS) and current president of Hub International’s Aligned Risk Management, MWIS, described the hard-fought lessons she and her MWIS team have learned over the last three decades administering contractor development programs (CDPs) for the City and County of San Francisco, Alameda County, City of Los Angeles, LA Metro, and other municipalities.

The CDPs help small and local construction firms win public infrastructure contracts with these government agencies. The program provides bonding assistance, contract financing, technical support, training, and other services to underrepresented businesses funded by public agencies who seek greater contracting participation with these firms.

Merriwether said programs like these “break down systemic barriers, create greater fairness, and save taxpayers money by enabling more competition. The contractor development programs have, cumulatively, over two decades, helped contractors access over $1 billion in bonding, supporting over $380 million in awarded contracts, and maintaining a loss ratio 250 times lower than the industry average – while saving participating municipalities more than $27 million in contracting costs as a result of enabling more competition.”

Rick Jacobs, EIP co-founder and co-chair urged attendees make plans to meet again in the near future “to continue building on this work, share progress on organizational commitments, and discuss how we can collectively advance the goals of the EIP pledge.”

For more information on the EIP and to access a copy of the Playbook, go online to https://equityininfrastructure.org/

Calvin Naito is communications manager for Equity in Infrastructure Project.