another set of questions. the city itself has been involved and we start to talk about this all lot and a continuing issue about our streets, we don't provide enough money in the annual budget for ongoing maintenance. as a bit of an excuse, that we have to spend more money on maintaining our aging fleet, why have we not budgeted for that in the past? that is capital planning that we should not be surprised in any given year. >> just one of my observations in time with the overtime budget over the years in muni and in the city, at times, there has been a reluctance to accurately reflect a true overtime budget in certain departments.

in other words, kind of two questions. setting an appropriate overtime budget for a department and secondly, managing over time compared to actual. i know that muni is over their overtime budget by 50%, which is what we're talking about in transit, but muni has been over its overtime budget for several years. at some point, they need to accurately reflect a reasonable expectation for an overtime budget. looking at the underlying trend, the change is less dramatic. this shows you the overall percentage of the salary budget being spent on overtime over time. if you compare their overtime use as compared actual spending the before, looking at their budget which at times is artificial, it might give you a true sense of the trend.

just as an observation. some of this is setting realistic budgets that are achievable through our overtime process as well, and that has not always been the case. we have set budgets that are artificially low in overtime and high in permanent salaries. department manages within their overall salary budget but not necessarily in the individual. >> -- supervisor chiu: if i could just follow up, do all other transit agencies have over time budgets at the 15% rate or 12% 14% rate that it seemed you had on that graph? >> i did not know the benchmark. i would assume not at this level. supervisor chiu: another explanation could simply be that we have a bureaucracy that has become accustomed to relying on overtime. there might be other practices we could implement that would help bring down these costs. >> and we have talked about some of them today that need to be pursued and implemented to bring down overtime costs.

at 14%, and muni is a different operation than the rest of the city unscheduled overtime is a normal method of constructing transit routes, but 14% of the overall budget is dramatically higher than the rest of the city as a whole, which is something like 6%. i think today we talked through things like improving hiring and staffing plans, using part-time operators, reducing the reliance on overtime for scheduled shifts of overtime and weekends. a lot of this is under way within the mta. supervisor farrell: i just say to the nba, to echo what president chiu was saying before, this is a big deal. this is $18 million this year alone. we are in tough budget times, but that could do a world of

good for the rest of our city. it is surprising how high this number is. if it is the trend, i think consistency is even worse. i share the frustration, but i do not know what there is to do about it right here. supervisor campos: if i may jump in, let me just -- i know that we have a lot of people waiting for the next item, so we want to move on to that, but let me say this about the presentation for muni. i appreciate all the information that was given, but this is not the first time that we talk about muni over time. it is not the first time that we point out that almost half of the city's overtime comes directly from muni. that has been the case for quite some time. as the column -- comptroller --

controller himself noted. this is not the first time that we have had this discussion. when you have an issue that has the severe financial consequences that this has, you usually have a plan in place, and i had heard a lot of different ideas that had been articulated, but there is no, in my view, comprehensive written plan that says, "this is what we as an agency in 10 to do -- intend to do. these are the targets, and this is the timeline for win we plan to get their." i have not heard that. what i propose, unless i see an objection from members of this committee, is that we simply keep this item on a monthly basis, that we at least going forward just hear from muni on where things are. i think that the more

information that was provided to this committee, to the board, and to the public, the better. and i would also say that this is such a significant issue for the city, especially in these financial times, that i would hope that the next time, maybe we year directly from the executive director. i think it is important for us to hear from the department heads on what specifically he intends to do to address these issues. so we will keep this on the agenda of this committee on a monthly basis until we reach the point that we feel we are fully satisfied with where muni is. i know that president chiu has proposed legislation to address the issue. we will also be introducing legislation working with the controller's office to make sure that we budget and amount for overtime for department, that amount is followed. the legislation that i envision

is that a department will not be allowed to go over the budget amount of overtime unless approved by the board of supervisors. i think that at the end of the day, things are not going to change unless the board, working with the mayor's office, forces that change, and i think we are all committed to making that happen, so we will hear from this agency again next month. unless you have anything else from the agency, why don't we open it up will -- for public comment? if any member of the public would like to speak on this item, please come forward. you each have two minutes. >> thank you. i am recently retired from the school of public health at uc berkeley, and i wanted to bring attention to the fact that i have done studies and work with muni drivers, and i ride the bus. two things. the work rules you have been talking about in terms of

addressing the questions -- the work rules are there -- they are good rules. they provide for the safety and health of the drivers and for the community. i think what you are neglecting as politicians right now on this issue is that it is the revenue. the lack of revenue is the problem, not the workers that you're talking about. and i want to convey a story. when my husband came home yesterday very upset because -- i would like you to put yourself in the shoes of the drivers. the back door of the bus was broken, and the driver said everybody had to get off the bus because the door was broken. you might want to reflect on why that door is broken, but what everybody did was started screaming at her and calling her lazy. when she would go to the next stop, she would go to the back

and closed the door, get back in the bus and drive again. finally, she reported that they told her to close the bus down. when she asked everybody to get off the bus, the abuse that she took was just horrible. they got on the next bus, which needed to turn around. they were yelling at the driver about the bus earlier, and when she told them that she was told to turn around, people accused her of using the opportunity to take lunch. i would like you to put yourself in their shoes. this is revenue, not the drivers. supervisor campos: thank you very much. next speaker please. >> again, i want to thank you all for the hearing. for our organization, we organize a lot of folks who are

transit-dependent, and we are also aware of how critical the budget issues are right now, but i would just agree that i think the voice of the drivers is also important, especially in relationship to supervisor farrell's question of standby time. muni is the largest african- american work force in the city. it is very hard work. many of our members to our drivers suffered back injuries and other injuries on the job. it is really intensive work, and we're not saying we should not correct the management of those issues that can be corrected around how we're scheduling overtime -- we can deal with that, but also, we should have the voice of the drivers. when you work 12-hour days year after year with the kind of abuse and the kind of intensity of this sort of work, there's things workers have fought for to make that compensated in just ways, and we need to hear about what those conditions are and not just from management in relationship to that. thank you. supervisor campos: thank you. next speaker.

>> [inaudible] supervisor campos: if you could speak into the microphone please. >> yes. [inaudible] president of the southeast asian society. i cannot know what they are talking about. what we're dealing with here is a systemic problem that will not get fixed until some outside entity, and fixes it for them because it has been going on here in and year out. i have discussed with supervisor farrell on this issue. we are in a top financial situation. this year in and year out problem is unsustainable. it is a simple fact of life. it is irresponsible for this to keep coming up the year in and year out.

yes, they are hard workers, but at the same time, the taxpayers are also hard workers, and the taxpayers' money has to be spent properly and frugally. thank you. supervisor campos: thank you. next speaker please. >> good morning, supervisors. i have been a beenrider -- i have been a muni rider for many years. how can our diverse residents be meaningfully and formed to provide any kind of input. look at the crowd we have here. we have two rooms of people. many of them came by muni and are not english-speaking. how about spanish and chinese captions of the broadcast to meaningfully and for the people? it is cost-effective. a few months ago, our president

presented a section of your the's budget, which only advocated $500 for instructors. this is very unreasonable, considering the millions of dollars muni gets from our taxpayers. recent safety audits report many safety problems, but little is mentioned about passenger safety. for years, i have complained about the missing nylon holding straps in the front of buses, which not only endanger the standing passengers, but [inaudible] y continue to neglect this cost- effective safety feature that can result in injured passengers, litigation to our financially strapped city, and resulting in their increases and service cuts? on behalf of the tens of thousands of new writers, please provide the language access and safety information needed. thank you. supervisor campos: thank you. is there any other member of the public would like to speak on this item?

seeing none, public comment is closed. thank you all for the presentation and very, i think, important and useful discussion. colleagues, i would ask that we continue this item to the call of the chair, and i will make sure we bring this up in the very near future to make sure we continue to monitor. motion by supervisor farrell. we can take that motion without objection. madam clerk, actually, if you could call item five out of order. >> item 5, hearing on the city's debt structure and the $1,350 million in non-voters approved debt on city books. supervisor farrell: i believe this is a scheduling mistake. i'll ask to continue to the call

of the chair. >> before we act on that motion, is there any member of the public who would like to speak on item 5? seeing none, public comment is closed. we have a motion to continue to the call of the chair. if we could take that without objection? thank you. call item four please. >> item of your coming here not have the city is working to address the crisis of wage death -- deaths -- theft. supervisor campos: i know there are so many of you here for this item, and this is a very important item that office has been working on, and i want to take this opportunity to thank the staff for both myself and supervisor mar for all the work they have done in putting this hearing together and to all the people who have made this possible.

i also want to note that there is translation. the translation services being offered in both cantonese chinese, and spanish, and i want to thank the chinese progressive association for helping with those services. i will say it in spanish. [speaking spanish] i know that four chinese- speaking members of the audience, the service has also been presented. let me just say just a little bit about why we are here. i know that just for the record, we have been joined by supervisor mar who has been a

leader on these issues for quite some time, and i know we will be hearing from him shortly. my hope is that this hearing is the beginning of several efforts on the part of the city to address the very important issue of wage theft in the city and county of san francisco. it is a crisis, which is why we noted the hearing the way that we did. it is an outrage for many reasons, but it is a form of theft because you're taking something that belongs to a worker. you are taking that wage away from them. unfortunately, it is something that affects our lowest wage workers often times. wage theft frauds that workers and their family and the ability to put food on their table, to make a living, to survive in

these tough economic times. it means that that workers and their family are forced to live in housing that is inadequate for them. you know, you just go to a single residency hotel where you have five people living in a very small room or oftentimes, you have people working who are homeless. wage theft therefore has dramatic impact on the people of the city and county of san francisco. at the same time, beyond the impact on that worker, which is pretty egregious, look at it from the perspective of the impact on other businesses. the fact is that most businesses in the city and county of san francisco played by the rules and pay their workers what they are supposed to. those workers are at a

disadvantage when we allow businesses to not follow the rules. when we try to address wage theft as a problem, we are also trying to level the playing field for all businesses in this city. unfortunately, this is a widespread problem. the chinese progressive association recently, with the help of supervisor mar, conducted a study of restaurant workers in chinatown and found that one out of two workers in the survey is not receiving the minimum wage that they are legally entitled to. likewise, a national study of the labor is conducted by ucla and the university of chicago that included interviews with workers in san francisco -- the study found that half of the day laborers interviewed had not been paid for their work at least once in the previous two months.

that is a very short time. at least once. my office, the office of supervisor mar, and so many of the board of supervisors, is committed to bringing attention to this crisis and doing whatever we can to address this issue. recently, i introduced legislation -- in fact, this tuesday -- that would improve the existing enforcement that we have, and we in san francisco are very lucky that we have an office of labor standards enforcement, which already has done a lot for workers here in san francisco. in fact, since the minimum wage ordinance went into effect in february 2004, the office of labor, standards, and enforcement has recovered more than $4 million in back wages for 2500 -- more than 2500 san francisco workers. that is something that we should be very proud of, and we want to thank olsc and their staff for

the great work that they do for the workers of the city and county of san francisco. the purpose of this legislation is to figure out ways in which we can enhance the existing system so that we can provide additional tools to make sure that san francisco workers are protected. as we go forward with the legislation, i look forward to getting to work with all city departments so that we can collectively address this crisis. finally, i want to give a special thank you to so many of the advocates who have been working on these issues for so long. the progress of workers alliance -- without the progress of workers alliance and especially the work of the chinese progressive association and young workers united, we

simply would not be here today. pwa has been working tirelessly on this issue and making great strides to bring the often invisible issued to the forefront, so i want to thank you for your advocacy. before we move on with presentations, i want to turn it over to supervisor mar, though, again, has been a leader on this issue for quite some time. supervisor mar: thank you so much for really bringing together a tremendous coalition. many of you were out there with us with hundreds of people, a rainbow see of activists and families and workers rights advocates and organizers that have been calling attention to an urgency of thousands of people, workers in our neighborhoods being cheated out of their hard-earned pay by unscrupulous, that employers. again, we want to make sure we are saying that most employers are good employers and that it

is the bad employers that cheat the workers with rampant wage theft-many different neighborhoods causing unfair competition in many of our neighborhoods, so we want to support the good businesses and small businesses in our neighborhood and hold accountable the bad businesses that are out there. i also wanted to say that there is an urgency to this issue. even though the chinese progressive association and uc- berkeley and other researchers identified the huge numbers of people being ripped off in our communities, and it takes grassroots organizations to recover the $560,000 in stolen wages, but there is so much of the work of the community-based group that goes into recovering those wages. we need stronger basic labor protections. many of the workers' organizations that were identified in the grass roots research, but it is a basic

human right, they say, that labor protection and workers' rights are basic human right. this will just strength in labor law enforcement at the local level and help workers and working families recover these stolen wages much more quickly with clearer timelines and better accountability. it will improve accountability and transparency in the process as well and create better noticing so that workplaces and neighborhoods know of the bad employers, and set more of a level playing field for all businesses. lastly, other efforts by the grass-roots coalition the progress of workers alliance leadership -- it is going to improve collection and data sharing and hopefully set up at some point some sort of task force as a way of holding accountable the local government to even improve the labor law enforcement for the future.

i just wanted to give my tremendous respect to the grassroots organizing, the building of a broader labor community alliance in our community, across communities, and especially using grass-roots research, action-based research from the bottom of that and forms better policy-making and better local policy so that we stand up to end wage that in san francisco, but we continue on other efforts to empower workers as we move forward as local government officials as well. hats off to supervisor campos for his leadership and the coalition here today. supervisor chiu: i just want to make a couple of brief comments. i want to thank my colleagues for their leadership on this issue, and to reiterate that there are some misconceptions about what the issue is about. this issue is not about workers versus businesses. the issue is about workers and thousands of law-abiding businesses versus those businesses that are violating

the law. i think that is a very important point to recognize. secondly, i want to thank cpa for the work they did looking at particularly chinatown restaurants, but to reiterate, this is not an issue just about chinatown. this is an issue that affects working neighborhoods and working families all over our city, and i again want to thank the broad coalition, including the progress of workers alliance, workers united, cpa, and others working diligently on this. the last thing i will say is part of what we are trying to do is to educate everyone about the issue of wage theft, particularly those who may have language barriers and for whom english may not be their first language. i want to thank the media that is here. this is something that we all need to do a better job of alerting folks as to the fact of wage theft, the fact that we have a lot of good businesses, and the fact that there are many businesses in violation of the

law that need to be dealt with. i also want to thank our city's olsc for the work you're doing. i know we are going to have a discussion about the tools and resources we can provide to your agency, and i think that it's a worthwhile and a good conversation. supervisor campos: thank you. the way this hearing is structured is we will begin by having a couple of -- a number of people present, but the first section of the presentation deals with the issue of understanding what is wage theft, how prevalent it is, and how it impacts the city and county of san francisco. we have a couple of presenters on those issues. if i may ask them to come up, and i would ask each of you to please limit your comments to a couple of minutes, and, of

course, it translation is needed, you have double the amount of time to present, so thank you for being here. >> thank you for holding this hearing today on the very important issue. i appreciate the remarks that everybody made about the seriousness of the wage theft epidemic and the need for the city to address it. i think that the comments that the supervisors have made sure that you have an understanding of the issue, so i'm not going to spend too much time delivering the same point of around how wage theft in taxes, but i want to point out that this is a historic day. may 12, 2011, is the first time san francisco is holding a city hearing on the issue of wage theft. is the first time city leadership and multiple city agencies are being called together to look at what is happening from -- having to wage

workers. we think it is important to note that this is a city -- this is an issue that has long been left by the wayside and left to advocates, under funded agencies, and workers themselves to fire out. i can say that i know workers who are members of the progress of workers alliance are happy to hold this hearing and hope it is not just one day of publicity but that it will really be a deep commitment on the part of san francisco to the lowest paid members of our community. wage theft is an issue not just hitting san francisco. national studies show that 2/3 of low-wage workers in different industries of different immigration status were impacted by wage theft. locally, the examples that i wanted to share with you include problems in the caregiving industry where care givers are working 1624/hour shifts with no