WORKERS IN THE CITY OF SONOMA TELL THEIR STORIES OF HOW THEY STRUGGLE TO MAKE ENDS MEET
North Bay Jobs with Justice and the North Bay Labor Council have been working together to bring an accelerated minimum wage to multiple cities in Sonoma and Marin Counties. The ordinance brought to these cities would advance the minimum wage put in place by the state and bring it to $15 by 2020 - three years sooner than the state.
It’s clear that even $15 an hour would be difficult, if not impossible for a family – or even a single person – to live in either of these counties and yet we struggle just to get to $15. The most recent city to consider this proposal was the city of Sonoma. A significant effort has been made by business owners, specifically restaurants, in Sonoma City to defeat this ordinance.
In an effort to put a face on the issue and make it more real for council members, community leader in the City of Sonoma, Mario Castillo gathered some 100 stories from Sonoma workers telling of how they struggle to make it on the meager salaries they earn. Seven of those stories were chosen to present to Council Members in an effort to help persuade them to approve $15 by 2020. Worker’s, afraid of possible retaliation, were not willing to come before the city council and tell their stories in person, so we changed their names and these seven stories were read to Sonoma City Council Members at their meeting on May 20th.
Here are their stories:
My name is (Alejandra) and I work at a hotel in Sonoma. I’m a mother of 3 children, and my husband works doing yard work here in Sonoma. I believe that the minimum wage should increase. The hotel work that my coworkers and I do is difficult. Each worker is given up to 14 rooms to clean in just the first half of our shift every day. Our work is also difficult and complicated because our managers are very demanding on us as workers. We sometimes feel like we aren’t real, we are a child’s cartoon, having to clean all these room assignments in such a short period of time. And the pay we get for the work we do, we can’t even afford our rent and pay for our food. Raising the wage will help us, especially since we don’t get any tips and our employer does not give us any benefits. |
My name is (Berenice) and I work in a restaurant in Sonoma. I have 4 children and my husband works at a local factory. It is time to raise the minimum wage in order to help with the cost of rent. I work for $12 an hour, at 40 hours a week. I only earn $960 for two weeks pay. Making about $1900 a month while minimum rents in the area of Sonoma that I live in is $1470 per month. One can only imagine how we make ends meet to cover the rest of our expenses. It’s very difficult. |
My name is (Jorge) and my wife and I both work at a local hotel and restaurant. We both have to work in order to pay for our rent and to support our children. We barely get enough each month just to pay the rent. Both my wife and I have 2nd jobs. I am also a driver for Uber and my wife is also a nanny. Yet we still seem to not be able to afford to have a savings, not even one dollar in our savings account. |
My name is (Leti), I’m a mother of 3. I work two jobs in Sonoma, I clean houses on the weekends and during the week I work at a plant nursery. My husband works in the fields as a farmworker. We can barely afford to pay rent, food and our bills. At times, we try to save up for the future of our children or for an emergency but how can we? Almost all our earnings goes towards our food, our rent, and paying for childcare while we work, among other costs for our family. |
My name is (Juana), I graduated from Sonoma Valley High School last year and I’m currently attending Santa Rosa Junior College. The minimum pay here should be $15 because all the tourists don’t make it easy for people to do their jobs. It’s a struggle to get our employer to pay us more than $12 an hour. I worked in downtown Sonoma and barely made $12.50 and now that I’m starting work in Santa Rosa I can make $13.50. |
My name is (Maria) and I have 4 children. I work at a local school in Sonoma. Raising the wage to $15 as soon as possibel would be great because it many ways it helps all people. Here at the school we need to also raise the wage to $15. Many of us working here making very little, yet are the ones who support the children of Sonoma. We all deserve to get paid fairly. We are the ones who teach our children to thrive academically and socially. We may not be a priority to you, but we should be. We can be impacted by your work to help community outside of the school. People in Sonoma want to thrive and get ahead, but with alll the expenses in Sonoma and the costs of rent, nobody can survive off $12 an hour. |
My name is (Brenda) and I have three children. I work three jobs to survive in Sonoma. I am a housekeeper, I am a childcare worker, and I am a food server. My husband does landscaping and yard work. I do the most I can to get ahead. I have worked at a hotel and a different restaurant but they would only pay $11 an hour. Half of my monthly earnings goes towards my childcare alone. And the little that is left over is not enough to pay for rent or food. Also the bit that is left not even enough to pay for rent or food. The work that I do is literally back-breaking. I believe that if you will raise the minimum wage to $15 it will be important help to us, especially since the rents are expensive. Even basic necessities in Sonoma are expensive. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No ordinance was passed at the Sonoma City Council meeting on May 20th and the issue was moved possibly to June. |