The Face of Minimum Wage

Emeryville's Minimum Wage Workers

Elijah Esquibel's Story

Elijah Esquibel
Emeryville worker

The Face of Emeryville's minimum wage workers; second in a series.  Readers may peruse 'Beatriz's Story', the first in the series,  HERE.
In his own words, Mr Elijah Esquibel tells us how workers manage on $9 per hour, Emeryville's minimum wage.  


"I’m a banquet captain at the Emeryville Hilton Garden Inn.  I also live in Emeryville, and my wife and I like to eat and shop locally.  So when wages go up, everyone has more to spend at local businesses.  

We eat pastries at Arizmendi a few times a week; we have a late night dinners at Rudy’s Can’t Fail Café after work; and sometimes we meet friends for drinks at the Oaks Corner.  

For the minimum wage retail workers at Bay Street, workers at the non-union hotels in Emeryville that are not covered under Measure C, and the fast food workers throughout the area, many have to work three hours just to afford a pizza from a local pizzeria – which means they can’t afford it.  

In addition to struggling to pay for food, transportation, and health care on $9 an hour, long commutes are destroying people’s family lives.  With rents skyrocketing, it’s typical to $1,000 just to get a single room in a small apartment with three roommates in Emeryville.  People earning minimum wage are moving further and further away, and many of my co-workers commute 90 minutes to two hours just to get to work.  

There’s no question in my mind that low-wages are stressful and take a toll on people’s health, family life, and our community as a whole.  

When multi-national corporations like IKEA, The Gap, and Jamba Juice pay low wages, they not only keep people down, they keep our community down.  When workers earn so little, they can’t afford to eat at local eateries, which negatively impacts local businesses and economy.  

IKEA profited $3.7 billion last year.  Locally, I’m sure that’s millions of dollars in profits that got sucked out of the local economy.  I think our community deserves better and should receive a benefit from these profits.  Paying workers more is the best way to do that.  

By bringing all workers up to $15 an hour by 2018, people would be able to spend a little more at local businesses.  

The pie is growing, but workers’ share is shrinking.  Business is booming, but workers wages are stagnant.  Now is the time to raise the minimum wage.  

Cities around us are all bringing wages up whether it’s Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco or San Jose.  Workers in Emeryville should not be left behind. Taking care of business also means taking care of employees.