Employment Advisory Committee Meetings
EMPLOYMENT COMMITTEE MINUTES
September 6, 2007
1) Call to Order/Roll Call
The meeting was called to order by Commissioner Faye Woo Lee at 1:35p.m. A quorum was present.
Members Present
Commissioner Faye Woo Lee, , Rich Bondoc, Cameron Douraghy, Jerry Jones, Warren Mar, Patrick Regan, Ronnie Rhoe, Ken Stram, Norma Tecson
Members Absent
Commissioner Carlota del Portillo, Molly Baier, Larry Chatmon, John Crowley, Adrian Trujillo, and John Weber
Staff Present
Linda Chin, Kabir Hypolite, Mary Gin Starkweather
Guests
Marigrace Cohen, Supervisor, SFUSD School to Career Program; Alex Tom, Campaign Program Director, Chinese Progressive Association; Josh Pastreich, Contract Compliance Officer, Office of Labor Standards Enforcement; Rael Silva, Young Workers United
2) Approval of Agenda
Rich Bondoc moved and Norma Tecson seconded the motion to approve the agenda. The agenda was approved unanimously.
3) Adoption of August 2, 2007 minutes
Rich Bondoc moved and Ken Stram seconded the motion to adopt the minutes.
The minutes were adopted unanimously.
4) Public Comment for Items not on the agenda
This item was moved to be heard after Item 8.
5) Commissioners’ Report
No Commissioners’ report.
6) Staff Report
Kabir Hypolite reported that progress was being made on Commission Chair Khaldoun Baghdadi’s recommendations regarding the Committee’s motions concerning the coordination of delivery of youth services and feasibility of a youth employment & training center in the Southeast sector ofSan Francisco. These were outlined in the August 2, 2007 minutes.
Mr. Hypolite reported that a report containing very similar recommendations is presently on the Mayor’s desk and any letter that the Commission would write would be in support of those recommendations.
7) Old Business
None
8) New Business
Marigrace Cohen, Supervisor, SFUSD School to Career Program gave a presentation on the programs offered mainly in high schools and the changes in focus over the years.
The programs are primarily funded through the Carl Perkins Vocational Technical Education Act; however, the amount of money granted has not increased in 8 years. Federal money has consistently gone down from $650,000 to $450,000 because the formula is based on student enrollment, which has been in a steady decline.
There is a new emphasis on STEM programs – science, technology, engineering and math. The skills taught must meet two criteria:
1) The future jobs must be high paying or be on a career path to high paying positions
2) There must be a labor need in the local community for those jobs.
The currents elective areas open to high school students are:
1) Health services and biotechnology
2) Business and Finance
3) Hospitality and Tourism
4) Technology – Information technology and graphic arts
5) Teachers Academy – including child psychology and child development courses. Also, candidates work in summer school as teachers’ aides.
6) Academy of Engineering and Construction
7) Law Academy
8) Environmental Sciences
On the job training in the form of summer internships is offered. Most students are in the 11th and 12th grades. Career to School also has a strong partnership with City College and students can take college courses on Saturday mornings.
Certain courses are offered in certain high schools. As demographics and interests change, courses may be offered in alternate schools.
Construction classes are covered in the Academy of Engineering and Construction. Under Project Labor Agreements contractors sponsor internships for students; but those jobs are nearly always in offices because state law prohibits anyone less than 18 years of age from working on the construction site.
Career Technical Education is the official name for the “old” Vocational Education (Voc Ed) program and covers a much broader area. Voc Ed was provided post World War II as career paths into the burgeoning automotive, aircraft and construction industries. At that time students were either “tracked” into college or Voc Ed. Now the emphasis is on everyone going to college. Today, in order to be an auto mechanic, one must have computer knowledge. There are no active “shop classes” in the SFUSD today. George Washington High School closed its auto shop class in June 2006.
For the past 12 years the State has required that all High School teachers be credentialed and there are no candidates for the “construction trade credential.”
Now students that are truly interested in the construction trades are funneled into City College’s programs and also to the CityBuild. Because only 10% of high school students show an interest in construction and only 5% are truly serious enough to pursue it, Ms. Cohen does not think it is a good idea to put shop classes back into the high schools.
Jerry Jones stated that he does not want to see shop classes as a mandatory requirement.
Norma Tecson emphasized her support for the partnerships between the SFUSD and private companies. Ms. Cohen stated that in Boston, there is an “80/20” program with private companies paying 80% of an intern’s salary and the school district paying 20%.
Ms. Cohen also reemphasized that SFUSD is subject to construction trades union rules regarding age and apprenticeship issues.
Working Group formation and volunteer section to review and analyze proposed state legislative requirement regarding reintroduction of career technical education into the SFUSD
The following members volunteered to review the legislation that was provided by Mike Theriault at the August 2, 2007 meeting:
1) Larry Chatmon Senate Bill No.13
2) Norma Tecson Assembly Bill No. 400
3) Patrick Regan Senate Bill No. 672
4) Rich Bondoc Assembly Bill No. 1414
5) Cameron Douraghy Assembly Bill No. 1586
Each volunteer will review their assigned bill and report back to the committee at the October 4th meeting with a recommendation on whether or not the committee should recommend that the full Commission support the legislation.
Public Comment for Items not on the agenda
Alex Tom, Campaign Program Director, Chinese Progressive Association spoke about the challenges faced by Chinese workers in San Francisco restaurants.
The Chinese Progressive Association (CPA) has been in existence for 35 years and its mission is to empower low wage workers. It assists workers in obtaining back wages owed and severance payments upon termination. In the 1990’s nearly 20,000 garment worker jobs were lost when factories moved to Mexico and China. Those displaced workers needed retraining and many went into restaurant work. Since the closure of the garment factories, the CPA assists mainly restaurant and hotel workers.
Abuse of wage and hours laws is common in the restaurant industry. If a worker complains, he/she may face further threats such as: 1) docked hours, 2) change to undesirable shifts 3) firing. Workers are afraid to call in sick because they may lose their jobs. Because of the above mentioned threats, abused workers are afraid to go to the Office of Labor Standards and complain. If one worker form a particular restaurant complains, the owner may just fire everyone in order to “weed out the bad” worker. Word swiftly passes throughout the restaurant owner grapevine and if one has worked at a restaurant that has been complained about, no other restaurant will hire them.
CPA is gearing up for an outreach and education campaign for both the restaurant owners and workers.
Norma Tecson suggested that some of the displaced workers may qualify for retraining as in-home health care workers.
Warren Mar stated that low skilled mono-lingual workers do not have many options. He emphasized the need for more resources for OLSE so that there could be better enforcement, especially since the new minimum wage law for San Francisco has been passed.
Mr. Mar also spoke about how initial judgements can be reduced. For example, the penalties against the Golden Dragon were originally $3 million in back wages and penalties to be paid to 47 workers. It was reduced to $1 million then down to $130,000 in wages. Golden Dragon is now closed.
Josh Pastreich stated that 4new positions have been filled at OLSE.
Josh Pastreich, Contract Compliance Officer, Office of Labor Standards Enforcement spoke about the challenges faced by Latino workers in the restaurant industry in San Francisco.
Mr. Pastreich has been with OLSE for 2 ½ years and speaks Spanish. He said that the majority of his clients are mono-lingual Latino. Unlike the Chinese workers, the Latino workers do not face “blacklisting”. However, they face threats of physical violence and loss of their jobs. A large number of the workers are undocumented and they are afraid that the employer will call Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and have them deported.
Also, if an employer suspects that an employee has complained about unfair practices, the employer might retaliate within 90 days, but it is hard to prove that a change in the worker’s hours or status actually constitutes retaliation.
OLSE has challenges with some of the complaints because many of the Latino workers are transitory and phone numbers may change and/or the worker may disappear. OLSE has no way of knowing if an ICE raid has occurred or if they simply couldn’t pay the phone bill.
Very few of OLSE’s cases progress to a formal hearing. Most are resolved through mediation. If a business has been found non-compliant, OLSE posts a violation notice at the business. OLSE has been doing targeted outreach to inform businesses of the City’s wage and hour requirements.
OLSE finally got more staff after legislation was passed to increase their budget.
Rael Silva, Young Workers United presented more information about Latino workers. . Young Workers United works mostly with undocumented persons to help them recover back pay. He said most of the workers are “invisible back room” employees who very rarely get breaks. Other common abuses are:
1) a worker will work the first week for free, (as a “deposit”) in order to show the boss that he/she can do the job; 2) a worker might work 12 hours/day 6 days a week and their pay may only equal $5.00/hour;
3) a worker’s paycheck might reflect that they are being paid the legal minimum wage, but after they cash the check they must “kick-back” a portion of the wages to the employer; 4) abuses regarding the “pooling of tips; 5) fired because of mismatched Social Security numbers; 6) workers are told that they “don’t qualify for minimum wage because they are undocumented; 7) workers are told that if they complain, they will be “registered” and no one else will hire them. Most undocumented workers tolerate the abuses because they just want to keep their jobs.
Young Workers United tries to give options to the workers by getting them to band together to report the abuses.
9) Announcements and Calendar matters:
Kabir Hypolite announced that member John Crowley is ill and is unsure when he will return to the committee. Mary Gin Starkweather will send Mr. Crowley a Get Well card with the good wishes of the entire committee.
The next meeting of the Employment Committee will be held:
Date: October 4+, 2007
Time: 1:30 – 3:30pm
Place: HRC Offices
25 Van Ness Avenue # 800
San Francisco, CA. 94102
10) Adjournment
Rich Bondoc moved and Cameron Douraghy seconded a motion to adjourn. The motion passed unanimously and the meeting was adjourned at 3:30pm.