With a minimum-wage hike looming, Oakland, CA, nonprofits are torn between supporting a living wage and being able to afford to pay one to their workers.
"While minimum wage disputes are often waged publicly by the owners of restaurants and mom and pop shops, Oakland's proposed hike is also facing opposition from government-funded service providers who don't have the luxury of simply raising prices. Critics of the Oakland initiative include Goodwill Industries, which runs job training programs, Family Bridges, which cares for thousands of frail Asian seniors, and Manos Home Care, the nonprofit that employs Stanley. The organizations contend that the ballot measure risks harming some of the city's most vulnerable residents because, in many cases, their workers are paid through state reimbursements that won't necessarily rise with Oakland's minimum wage." -- Matthew Artz, the San Jose Mercury-News