Minimum-Wage Protest Brings Rallies Across Bay, Arrests In Oakland
OAKLAND (CBS SF) – Hundreds of Bay Area workers participated in multiple rallies across the region Tuesday as part of a national Day of Disruption to call for higher wages and more employee rights.
The action is part of a larger effort where fast food workers, airport employees, hospital workers, and other service industry employees have walked off their jobs and are demanding that cities and corporations support union rights and pay their workers at least $15 per hour.
About two dozen protesters were arrested Tuesday morning after blocking a busy Oakland intersection, authorities said.
Protesters told KPIX 5 California is on the right path and were chanting for the millions of people across the country that still need a raise.
"We're not asking to become millionaires. We're not asking to retire on this income or anything like that," said Rico Johnson, a single father of 10-year-old twins who works at Taco Bell. "We're just asking to be able to maintain a respectable living."
Johnson says he sometimes brings the twins to work with him because he says there's no other option.
"Right now, I feel like my kids are just existing along with me. You know, they're not really living, said Johnson. They're not really being able to enjoy their childhood to the fullest because of the struggles that we're having to go through and that's not ok."
Chanting "Si Se Puede (Yes, You Can)," many on the crowd of about 150 demonstrators sat in a circle at the intersection of 98th and International Blvd. in Oakland at around 6:30 a.m.
Told several times by police to clear the intersection or be arrested, about two dozen protesters still refused to leave. They were arrested, cited and released at the scene as the crowd dispersed.
Traffic returned to normal around 7:30 a.m.
Workers also gathered at San Francisco International Airport's International Terminal, with about 1,500 people expected to attend the noontime rally, according to organizers.
Rallies are happening at nearly 20 major airports and McDonald's restaurants throughout the country, according to organizers.
South Bay resident Francis Ballecer, who works part-time at Mineta San Jose International Airport, joined the SFO rally to demand higher wages for airport employees.
Ballecer said he has asked for more hours at his job but hasn't received them and is having a hard time supporting his kids and his wife, who works two jobs herself.
"I'm only working 25 hours, but with those hours I cannot afford to buy something for my kids," Ballecer said. "I'm getting $12.50 an hour but it's not enough. I live in Silicon Valley and it's really expensive."
Later Tuesday, child care workers are expected to convene at Oakland City Hall at 5 p.m. during a City Council meeting, where they will urge council members to raise the city's minimum wage.
Organizers say child care workers are being forced out of their profession because of low wages. That in turn affects families' access to quality child care and strips children of learning opportunities before they start kindergarten.
In California, the state's minimum wage is already scheduled to climb to $15-an-hour by 2022 after the state legislature passed a law in March 2016. However, other states have not followed suit triggering Tuesday's day of action.
Oakland wasn't the only city that saw arrests at minimum wage demonstrations.
Fast-food restaurant workers and home and child-care workers also rallied in cities including Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles and New York.
About 25 of the 350 protesters in New York City have been arrested. Detroit police say they arrested about 40 protesters who blocked traffic. And nearly three dozen protesters have been arrested in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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