Victory for Oakland

In the wake of global uprisings in response to racism in policing and other arenas of our societies comes a clear call to defund law enforcement. Defund campaigns are not new but have recently reached a critical mass pushing more campaigns to grow and tangible goals to be one.  Calls to defund the police capture the broad sentiment that our public dollars should not fund law enforcement but take form differently in each locality based on the law enforcement agency and where the funding comes from.  This is a prime time for defunding campaigns as many municipalities are in budget cycles currently. Minneapolis, MN City Council unanimously voted on June 12, 2020 to disband and defund the city's police force and to spend 1 year listening to their constituents on how to develop a community-led public safety system.  California cities seek to follow suit. Hours after the Minneapolis decision, residents of Hayward demanded the same at a City townhall. Los Angeles Mayor E...

Photo credit: City of Oakland On Tuesday June 9, 2020, the City Council voted to adopt two resolutions: one establishing the Department of Workplace and Enforcement Standards (DWES) and the other authorizing the hiring of the Chief Officer of the new Department.  The council meeting and vote can be viewed HERE . This represents a milestone in a years' long campaign for stronger worker protections and enforcement led by the Lift Up Oakland coalition.  The coalition helped to pass Measure FF in 2015 establishing Oakland's minimum wage ordinances.  In 2018, a similar coalition helped to pass Measure Z which established protections for hotel workers and mandated that the City would establish DWES by July 1, 2020 to enforce all employment laws in effect in the City.  The same coalition requested full funding in the 2018 budget cycle but only received partial funding for staffing in the final approved budget.  Budget allocations to accompany the resolution for...

The City of Oakland's budget is adopted for a 2-year cycle but goes through a mid-cycle revision.  The Mayor proposes the budget and the council must vote to approve it. Photo credit: City of Oakland  On May 22, 2020 Mayor Libby Schaaf released her mid-cycle proposed budget .  The Mayor claims that the City is facing a $122 Million deficit that must be closed by reducing some City services and cutting and/or freezing personnel.  The City Council must vote to adopt a budget by June 30.  The budget discussion will begin at the June 16, 2020 council meeting. To view to June 16, 2020 city council meeting agenda items : CLICK To submit e-comment before the council meeting: CLICK (note you will be required to create a login and verify your email address before submitting your first e-comment) To participate in the City Council meeting on June 16:  VIDEO LINK .  To comment by Zoom video conference, click the “Raise Your Hand” button to reques...

On June 8, 2020, the Oakland Post, a locally-owned and Black led news organization, published an OpEd by Allyssa Victor y. Full text of the published OpEd below. --- The city of Oakland must do right by Oakland voters and address racial and economic inequality by ensuring the creation of a strong and effective Department of Workplace and Employment Standards (DWES). The Department was created by Oakland voters through Measure Z, which passed overwhelmingly with 76% of the vote in November 2018. The law mandates that the City of Oakland establish this department by July 1, 2020, yet the city has been slow on implementation over the last 18 months. Oakland has been a leader in establishing strong labor standards — with overwhelming voter support. But workers continue to experience violations of their rights due to the lack of robust enforcement. California’s Department of Labor Standards Enforcement estimated that its Oakland-based office has a backlog of 2-2.5 years ...