Oakland’s unions have been working hard to settle a fair new contract with with the City of Oakland for months. The City, remarkably unified behind newly sworn in Mayor Barbara Lee, is trying to plan for economic uncertainty created by MAGA Republicans’ Big Brutal Bill, which funds massive tax cuts for already wealthy individuals and profitable companies by cutting more than a trillion dollars from Medicaid and other programs that help people survive.

Alongside members from IFPTE Local 21 and IBEW Local 1245, SEIU 1021 members overflowed city council’s chambers last Thursday. More than a dozen speakers called on city leaders to prioritize public services. If workers keep falling behind, they will not stay with the city, City of Oakland chief steward and environmental enforcement officer Amaka Watson pointed out. “And when we lose employees to other municipalities, we lose services.”

With the city’s coffers about to be bolstered by revenues from PG&E investing nearly a billion dollars in Oakland by buying its headquarters, workers say, the City should likewise invest in its dedicated workforce. Such an investment would pay rich rewards, argued recreation leader Olibhia Kain, calling for increased dignity for the so-called “temporary, part-time” Oakland workers who lack benefits and just cause protections, even while being asked to perform vital tasks in youth development work that serve cultural enrichment and violence prevention goals. “Settling this contract,” Kain said, “will prove that the City of Oakland is willing to invest in its own future.”