EMPLOYMENT COMMITTEE

MINUTES

March 2, 2006

 

Members Present

Commissioner Faye Woo Lee, Commissioner Carlota del Portillo, Molly Baier, Jose Bondoc, John Crowley, Jerry Jones, Suzanne Korey, Patrick Regan, Ronnie Rhoe, Norma Tecson, Adrian Trujillo, John Weber

 

Members Absent

Bridgett N. Brown, Ken Stram

 

Staff Present

Linda Chin, Kabir Hypolite

 

Guests

None

 

Call to Order/ Roll Call

The meeting was called to order at 1:40p.m.  A quorum was present.

 

Approval of Agenda

Jose Bondoc moved to adopt the March 2, 2006 agenda.  Suzanne Korey seconded and the motion was carried unanimously.

 

Adoption of February 2, 2006 Minutes

Commissioner Lee moved to adopt the minutes.  Ms. Baier made one correction to the minutes on page 2 changing the word “litigation” to “legislation”.  Jose Bondoc seconded and the motion was carried unanimously.

 

Public Comment for items not on the Agenda

None

 

Commissioner’s Report

Commissioner Lee welcomed Commissioner del Portillo as the newly appointed Vice-Chair of the Employment Advisory Committee and the facilitator for the Special Meeting.  Commissioner Lee noted Commissioner del Portillo’s impressive resume and her past service on the Issues Committee and the full Commission.  Commissioner del Portillo recognized the Commission’s important opinion making function.  She also noted the role of the Commission in the 1970s on the role of women in the San Francisco Fire Department and other issues of bilingual pay and other important diversity and anti-discrimination initiatives over the years.

 

Special Meeting Items

Commissioner Lee welcomed the continuing members and new members.  Each member was asked to introduce themselves and state why they were drawn to the Employment Committee.

 

 

1.      Commissioner Faye Woo Lee is a retired City employee with the Department of Human Services in charge of the City’s adoption program and an activist with the second oldest civil rights organization in America, the Chinese American Citizen’s Alliance.

2.      Commissioner Carlota del Portillo is Dean of the City College of San Francisco Mission Campus.  She desires to serve the community and the committee’s convenient afternoon schedule enabled her to switch from the Issues Committee.  She looks forward to working with all the committee members.

3.       Molly Baier is Senior Counsel for Wells Fargo Bank and is a member of the Diversity Council for the bank’s Law Department.  She is a continuing member and is returning because of the committee’s successful work last term.

4.       Jose Bondoc is a freelance political consultant and a former West Bay Filipino Community Center employee.  He is active in supporting the policies of the City and contributing to the community.

5.       Suzanne Korey works for City College of San Francisco.  She is motivated to return to the Employment Committee by its successful work in moving things forward with formerly incarcerated individuals seeking reform of the City’s civil service hiring practices in the 2005-2006 term and its work on the Sweatshop working conditions in San Francisco.

6.       John Crowley is a Business Representative for the Sprinkler Fitters and Apprentices Local No. 483.  He is returning for a second year.  Former Commissioner Larry Lee invited him to join the committee so that the Labor community could serve the larger community effort to ensure that workers receive pay and benefits that union members enjoy.

7.       Jerry Jones is a Bank of the West manager.  Bank of the West is the largest community bank headquartered in San Francisco.  The bank supports many organizations in the community and he is glad to be here.

8.       Ronnie Rhoe is the Employment Coordinator with Chinese for Affirmative Action, an employment services and advocacy agency focused on workplace equity.  He cites the committee’s project focused, task oriented direction that gets substantial work accomplished.  He hopes to continue that work in his third term.

9.       Patrick Regan is Vice President of Community Relations for Community Vocational Enterprises.  CVE helps individuals with psychiatric disabilities get back into the work force.  He is excited to be a new member.

10.   John Weber is Director of the Interagency Council for Improving Transitional Outcomes Project.  ITOP’s project seeks to reform how ‘transition aged’ youth with disabilities are served in the City, particularly regarding employment.  His personal experience assisting family members displaced by Katrina to find employment propels his involvement with the committee.

11.   Norma Tecson is a returning employment committee member who served with the Philippines President’s fund for national economic development, taught economics and management, and has her doctorate in public administration.  Currently, Dr. Tecson serves as Executive Director of the Filipino American Family Development Center.

12.   Adrian Trujillo is the Private Industry Council’s Chief Financial Officer in San Francisco and a new committee member.  He is interested in the employment activities of the City.

 

The Committee staff also introduced themselves:

 

1. Linda Chin - is a Contract Compliance Officer who is responsible for contract compliance on Bureau of Engineering projects and is outstationed at the Department of Public Works.

2. Kabir Hypolite - is a Contract Compliance Officer who is responsible for Equal Benefits monitoring and investigation of complaints based on sexual orientation.  He has served as staff to the Employment Committee for nearly four years.

 

Ice Breaker Exercise

 

Mr. Crowley led an icebreaker exercise after which an orientation was presented.

 

 Role of Mayor/ Supervisors/ Executive Director/ Commissioners/ Committee/ Staff

 

Mr. Hypolite gave a brief presentation and handout entitled: The Intelligent Fish – (An Intelligent Fish Knows the Waters in Which It Swims). The main point to take away from this brief overview is that this Committee is not the largest government entity and works in a governmental context that is not always settled.  Political officials, commissioners, staff, and community organizations scrutinize everything the committee does.  Committee members must keep an open mind regarding issues and matters brought before them and weigh all viewpoints carefully before reaching decisions or taking positions.  Mr. Hypolite distributed a handout briefly describing some of the major components of City government structure:

 

·         Mayor – Directs all City Departments, Commissions, Bureaus, and Boards; proposes ordinances; proposes budgets.

·         Board of Supervisors – conducts public hearings, reviews Mayor’s budget proposals, enacts City ordinances, passes resolutions, conducts regularly scheduled meetings, and issues rules.

·         City Attorney – Advises the Commission regarding proposed policies and legislation drafting and implementation.

·         HRC Commissioners – Advise the Mayor and Board of Supervisors on social policy, budgetary priority, and pertinent substantive issues, including: HRC Programs (Disadvantaged Business Program, Equal Benefits Ordinance implementation; Employment, Housing and Public Accommodation anti-discrimination program).  Hold public hearings and issue reports on matters appropriately before the Commission.  Commissioners lead the operation of and set policy in the committees they chair or co-chair.  Identify and participate in issues and events pertinent to the committees and represent the Commission and/or advisory committee before other bodies.

·         Director – Facilitates and directs the effective, efficient operation of the staff, Commission advisory committees and division programs.  Consults with Commissioners regularly to guide the Commission regarding HRC jurisdiction, committee activities, issues, and progress, and assists in policy making.  Prepares the HRC budget projections.

·         Employment Committee Members – provide advice and assistance to the Commission regarding diversity and discrimination in employment; review staff reports on employment patterns of City contractors and recommend positions for the Commission to adopt regarding legislation or other actions affecting equal opportunity in employment.

·         Committee Staff – prepare agendas and minutes for monthly meetings, coordinate special requests with Committee Co-chairs (e.g. honorary resolutions), research substantive issues before the Committee, arrange for meeting speakers and presenters, follow-up on matters raised in Committee, orient new members, ensure compliance with Sunshine Act, City policies, Commission policies, Committee mandates, and Committee guidelines.

 

Employment Committee Tools

Ms. Baier presented an overview of how the Committee makes policy recommendations for the Commission’s consideration.  The Employment Committee has several tools to use when drafting employment workforce diversity and anti-discrimination policy recommendations including: monthly meetings, task forces, working groups, public hearings, and panel discussions.

 

Ms. Baier reviewed the Committee’s use of a panel discussion and monthly meetings during the 2005-2006 term to support All of Us or None’s civil service reform effort.  Panel discussions are usually presentations made to the committee for purposes of educating and advocating policy changes.  Committee members and staff determined the nature of the panel, selected the panelists and invited them to speak and to provide literature.  Monthly meetings of the Committee and the Commission allowed for substantive written and oral presentations educational or advocacy from a variety of sources: community groups, experts, and individuals.  Committee members made inquiries of the presenters and discussed their concerns in order to make appropriate recommendations for the full Commission.[1][1]

 

CityBuild – Construction Trade Reporting

 

Mr. Rhoe reported on CityBuild, the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development employment assistance project.  CityBuild is modeled after a best practices study of similar employment projects around the country.   Community based organizations work to channel local residents to City funded projects via the CityBuild program.  CityBuild is designed to tackle the historical lack of macro-coordination among employment agencies in San Francisco and disparate monitoring by City departments.  CityBuild coordinates monitoring and gets buy-in from various City departments.  The project is housed under one roof and offers a 12 week pre-apprentice training program at City College’s CityBuild Training Academy to develop skills for people interested in the construction trades.  Graduates are prepared for multiple trades and apprenticeship programs.  A fiscal agency oversees City contracts for compliance.  The inaugural class kicked off on February 6, 2006 with 50 participants in a 12-week program.

 

Commissioner del Portillo voiced concern about the eighth grade reading level requirement since studies show that fifty per cent of high school graduates in San Francisco do not read at a 6^th grade level.  Mr. Rhoe acknowledged that, after much debate, organizers of the program began with the most talented members of the pool.  He said there are a number of concerns that were not addressed with the initial class but will be dealt with in subsequent classes, including reading skills and ESL considerations.  Ms. Korey noted that there are programs for these students as well but that they will not receive the ‘wrap-around’ services that participants in the program receive.

 

Mr. Weber inquired regarding the diversity of foremen in the trades and noted that many schools do not expect their graduates to succeed.  It was also noted that upper management positions require more than an 8^th grade education.

 

Responding to Community Requests

 

Ms. Korey reviewed ways in which the Committee responds to Community requests for assistance and gave two examples of how they can lead to Committee projects: 1) the All of Us or None successful lobbying effort to reform the City’s civil service hiring process, and 2) a response to the Trade Adjust Act (TAA) that caused significant layoffs of monolingual garment workers.  She noted that sustained, monitored effort is what it takes to create successful change.

 

Committee Guidelines

 

Mr. Jones reviewed the Committee Guidelines for members.  He noted that the committee provides advice and assistance to the Commission and that its membership is recruited from the business and non-profit communities, community groups and organizations, and labor organizations.  Mr. Jones explained that the committee assists the Commission in fact finding and analysis of an issue and must hear all sides of an issue prior to taking action or forwarding recommendations to the Commission.  He stressed the importance of a quorum to the Committee’s effectiveness.   Mr. Hypolite explained that if a member accumulates three (3) absences, even excused, during a one-year period that person will no longer be a member of the Committee.   Members then discussed the ways in which items appear on the Committee’s monthly agenda.  Mr. Hypolite noted that at the Special Planning meeting the Committee members decide on a prioritized list of agenda items for the term.  In addition, Community groups may appear before the Commission, the Employment Committee, the HRC Director or a staff person for assistance regarding matters within the Commission’s jurisdiction.  The Committee may not address individual complaints and opposing views on any given agenda item must be given equal opportunity to be heard.  All meetings are public and allow for public comment.

 

Sunshine Act Requirements for Committees

 

Ms. Chin reviewed the Sunshine Ordinance requirements for public meetings.  A meeting of the Committee occurs whenever a majority of its members come together.  Meetings must be publicly noticed 72 hours before the meeting and must be open to the public.  The Committee may not act upon matters not properly placed on the agenda.  Task force meetings are also subject to public notice, agenda, and access requirements, but working group meetings are not.  Any member of the public has the right to comment on the Committee’s activities and may do so anonymously.  A copy of the Sunshine Ordinance may be requested by calling the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force at (415) 554-7724.

 

Setting Committee Goals for 2006-2007

 

Commissioner del Portillo facilitated a discussion among the members on proposed projects for the 2006-2007 term.  After much discussion, the proposed topics were determined, prioritized, and recorded by Committee member vote as set forth below.  Discussion about how the Committee wishes to address the top four issues will take place at the next Committee meeting.

 

1)                  Proposition I (Economic Development in San Francisco) – A community focused analysis of economic development in the City with specific inquiries directed to the Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development and a highlight on career paths for youth within identified growth industries.

2)                  CityBuild – An inquiry regarding the current status of the Mayor’s City Build initiative, including a review of contractor requirements, performance monitoring, and enforcement mechanisms.

3)                  Youth Employment Opportunities – Two requests for presentations by the Mayor’s Youth & Transition Task Force and the Youth Commission regarding the state of youth employment in San Francisco.

4)                  The Impact of Limited Language Access to the GED on Test Outcomes An inquiry regarding the impact of language-restricted access to the GED (General Education Diploma) on English-as-a-second-language students where many types of employers require a GED from job applicants.  The test is offered in only three languages: English, French and Spanish.

5)                  Sweat Free Ordinance – Continued focus on garment shop working conditions in the City as well as an expansion and update of the Trade Adjustment Act (TAA) program.

6)                  Impact of Immigration Status on Employability – the criminalization of day laborers and the lack of pay equity for immigrants generally.

7)                  Diversity of Upper Management - An inquiry regarding the current state of minorities, women, and persons with disabilities in top management positions in the City’s workforce.

8)                  City Contracts & Diversity of Employees – An inquiry into the current diversity of the City’s workforce with a focus on race, disability, gender representation.

9)                  Immigrant Communities – An inquiry regarding the employment status of Katrina evacuees (and others) in San Francisco.

10)               Human Rights Commission – Public relations campaign that would include all HRC committees and would include all ethnic and neighborhood media outlets.  The Commission would also hold meetings in different San Francisco communities. [7]

11)               Exotic Dancer legislation – The Department on the Status of Women together with activists from the exotic dancer profession seek support of DOSW sponsored legislation before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors that would regulate working conditions and eliminate forced prostitution practices by club owners and management.

12)               Payment for Bilingual skills in City Employment – An inquiry into certification requirements and standardization of language and translation skills testing.  In additions to a concern that departments and agencies compensate their employees adequately when they utilize their skills on behalf clients.  Status of legislation: AB __ Wilma Chan/Judy Chu and AB___ Leland Yee (Child Interpreters).

13)              Family Medical Leave Act & American with Disabilities Act - Education with a focus on employment and disabilities including mental disabilities.  Also a report on Proposition 63.

14)               Education and Employability – High school graduates

 

Calendar Matters –

The next meeting will be held:

Date:    Thursday, April 6, 2005

Time:    1:30 to 3:30 PM

Place:   HRC Offices

25 Van Ness Avenue, 8^th Floor

San Francisco, CA 94102

 

Adjournment

Commissioners Lee and del Portillo thanked the Committee Members for their participation.  Mr. Bondoc moved to adjourn at 4:25pm.  The motion was seconded and approved unanimously.