City Government

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

Published

11 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 June 4 – 10, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of June 4-10, 2025

Published

3 days ago

June 7, 2025

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

Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

Published

1 week ago

June 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.