Workers, Labor Leaders, and Community Partners to Announce Launch of Oakland and Alameda C

Workers, Labor Leaders, and Community Partners to Announce Launch of Oakland and Alameda County Living Wage for All Campaign – Filing Ballot Initiatives for $30 Minimum Wage

Thursday’s launch announcement will bring together leaders from Oakland and Alameda County labor unions, community organizations, and directly impacted workers to demand a true living wage for every worker in Alameda County, with no exceptions.

New polling in Oakland and Alameda confirms that voters across party lines overwhelmingly support raising wages to match the cost of living.

OAKLAND, CA —This Thursday, March 19, at 12:00 PM PT, labor leaders, community organizers, and directly impacted workers will gather at Understory to publicly launch the Oakland and Alameda Living Wage for All Campaign by filing new initiatives that will be on the November 2026 ballot.
The initiative phases in the minimum wage increase through a scheduled set of planned increases, with large businesses getting to $30 by 2030 if they have over 100 employees and with more than $1 billion in annual revenue, and small businesses with 25 or fewer employees being given a full decade to reach the same wage. The initiatives will eventually raise the minimum wage to $30 an hour for every worker in Oakland and Alameda County.
The launch comes at an unprecedented time when a majority of the Alameda County workforce earns less than the cost of living. The MIT Living Wage calculator shows that one person in a two-parent, two-child household must earn over $40 per hour to cover the basic cost of living. Nearly 40% of Alameda County workers do not earn even $30 an hour, and a majority do not earn the cost of living.