A group advocating for a $30-an-hour minimum wage in Alameda County announced that the signatures it collected to place an initiative on the November ballot have been certified by county officials.
The Alameda County Registrar of Voters also confirmed Friday that the Alameda County Living Wage for All coalition has gathered enough valid signatures from registered voters to place the measure on the ballot.
The coalition said in a news release that it collected more than 100,000 signatures throughout Alameda County “and the certified petition exceeded the required threshold at 106%.”
The coalition is part of the national One Fair Wage campaign, which aims to establish a living wage at the federal level, in eight states and the District of Columbia.
“Workers built this campaign themselves, without the corporate firms that usually run ballot campaigns, and gathered every signature by hand. This is what democracy looks like,” said Saru Jayaraman of One Fair Wage.
In addition to One Fair Wage, the coalition includes the Black Organizing Project, an Oakland-based community organization, Trabajadores Unidos Workers United, a Bay Area-based immigrant worker center, and United Auto Workers Region 6.
Measure could set a precedent
Organizers say that if approved by a majority of voters in November, it will be the first $30 an hour minimum wage in the United States.
It would take effect next July and apply only to employers in the unincorporated parts of the county, not those doing business inside any city boundary, although the group is working to put a similar initiative on an Oakland ballot.
“Workers built this campaign themselves, without the corporate firms that usually run ballot campaigns, and gathered every signature by hand. This is what democracy looks like.”
Saru Jayaraman, One Fair Wage
The “Living Wage For All” measure would require corporations with more than 100 employees and revenue of more than $1 billion to raise their hourly minimum wage to $30 by 2030.
Firms employing between 25 and 100 people would have until 2035 to raise their minimum wage to the same level, while those with fewer than 25 employees would have until 2037.
It would require annual increases of at least 3%. The initiative also includes a provision that would allow workers subjected to illegal retaliation or wage theft to recover triple the amount of lost wages.
Supporters say the Alameda County Board of Supervisors must now vote to put the measure on the November ballot and expect them to do so at their Aug. 4 regular meeting.
On the day of that vote, the coalition will hold a news conference in front of the Alameda County Administration Building in Oakland to rally support for their initiative.
