at the women's center. we are very excited about it. >> on thursday -- i think you have a fire in your books. -- flier in your books. this is asia pacific heritage month. 5:30 is a celebration hosted by mary lee, honoring the secretary of transportation who grounded all the airlines during 9/11. it is a free event. there is food. i am producing all the entertainment for the evening. we are going live. it is all live performers. we are going with one of the bands that has played in the

japan town area for many years. it will be our backup band. the singers are not all professional. it is going to be kind of like an american idol in city hall. the live performance goes from 5:32 6:00 for the speakers. 7:00 to 8:30 is the live performances. it is in the rotunda. we are taking over the space. president newlin: all the permits in order? [laughter] i would hate to send guys down there. i just have one item. i would like to point out that our becker -- our deputies director we did our deputy director, nicholas king, has outstanding taste in clothing, particularly shirts. [laughter] having said that, we will move

on to item seven. new business, request for future agenda items. seeing none, this will be my pleasure to conclude the tuesday, may 22 meeting of the entertainment commission for the city and county of san francisco. thank you all in the audience for coming.

supervisor avalos: good morning. welcome to the may 17, 2012, public safety committee. my name is john avalos, chair of the committee. before we go on to announcements, we need to have it more quiet in the chamber, please, so we can concentrate on what we have before us today. think you very much. madam clerk, please share announcements. >> all persons attending this meeting are requested to turn

off electronic devices. if you wish to submit materials, please submit an extra copy for the bottle. if you wish to submit a speaker card, please put it in the container at the speaker real to your left. item submitted will be considered by the full board on tuesday, june 5, unless another date is indicated. >> thinseasons supervisor avalos: thank you. item number two first. we have mr. corso from the fire department to speak to this. >> item 2, except in expend grant in the amount of $215,000 for the fiscal year 2011 port security grant program for assets to enhance the fire department's water-based response capabilities and increase its protection of the

port of san francisco and san francisco bay. >> good morning, supervisors. to present the next item on the agenda, which is except and expand in the amount of $215,000 before the fiscal year 2011 port security grant program. -- accept and expand. in september of last year the department came before the committee with approximately 1.87 million in credit funding for fiscal years 2007-2010. this wis a continuation of that. the grant program is of fema program, so it is federal funding. it is to increase our rain and water-based prepared this and increased security for ports. the request is for divert rescue

equipment for $100,000, and $115,000 for equipment enhancement. this grant is for equipment only. no positions or salaries included. there is no grant match required by the department or the general fund. the department respectfully request approval of this. thank you. supervisor avalos: thank you. any member of the public that would like to comment on the second item about port security grant. seeing no one come forward, we will close public comment. >> i would like to move. supervisor avalos: this move by a move and second. >> item number one, or in its

amending the san francisco administrative code by adding sections 5.260 thru 5.260-5 to create a wedge that task force to make recommendations to the board of supervisors regarding how the city may best address wage that in san francisco, and provide the task force's membership, organization, and duties, and to set a sense of debt for the task force. >>supervisor campos: thank you. i want to thank the members of the public safety committee for hearing this item. i want to thank all of the members of the community that are here. as i understand it, there is translation that is ongoing, so i will try to not speak too fast. as you know, wage and theft is an issue that the officer --

office of supervisor mar and my office have been working on for quite some time. in may of 2011 the progress of worker alliance began the campaign to end wage but here in san francisco. that's followed work that was done by a the chinese progress of association, including a study that highlighted how even here in san francisco in the year 2012-2011, that wage theft remains a problem in san francisco. wage that is precisely that, a crime. this is why we are proud today to follow up the momentum that was created by the introduction of the ordinance on whage theft that supervisor mar naand i

authorized by created a task force that we as a city are also raising the resources we have, not only in terms of the city resources, but with the community. as you know, the wage that ordinance that supervisor mar and i introduced was passed unanimously at the board of supervisors, which was a historic vote. it was passed not only with the support of the worker community, but also the business community. this not only hurts the worker and their families, but it also hurts other businesses. the vast majority of businesses in san francisco played by the rules, follow the rules, and are paying workers their due. when a business does not do that, not -- not only are they hurting their workers, they are

also unfairly competing. the task force created is a task force that would have at representatives from seven city agencies that do work that is impacted by wage that, including office of labor standards and enforcement, the district attorney's office, the police department, department of public health, treasurer's office, and office of small business. it also will include community stakeholders of workers or worker rights advocates from community-based organizations. there will also be one labor representatives and three representatives from responsible business employers. we believe it is important to have that balance, because this is one issue where all of us should be unified. i want to thank the side super

beiber -- supervisor mar and his staff, the co-sponsors of the legislation, supervisor avalos, president chiu, supervisor kim, and supervisor 0 lolague. if i want to thank office of supervising and enforcement, because i think the reareason we have become a model for how to tackle this important issue is because of the work of the agency. not only is the agency doing everything it can to make sure the walls are properly enforced, but i appreciate that are routreach in the community. this agency is doing that because of the leadership at the top here yen we in san francisco

have this level of translation, not only with workers but the business community. i think it is something we should be very proud of. and the last thing is as we go through the budget process, and i know the important cuts may need to be made, but i want to make sure that we are committed to making sure that olsc has the necessary resources to continue to do the job it is doing. i know there will be others on the board of supervisors that make sure that happens. with that, i again thank you for your consideration. i look forward to having the support of the committee and the support of the full board when it comes before the board. lastly, i also want to thank hillary run onan of my office fr

the work they have done on this important issue. thank you very much. >supervisor avalos" thank you. : thank you. i want to thank you for the work you have done on this issue in the community groups that have come forward that have moved as forward on how we can put a greater strength and our efforts to prevent workplace deaths in san francisco. did you want to go to public comment? >> i want to go to supervisor mar who has been working on this for quite some time. i want to thank him for his leadership on this important issue. supervisor mar: thank you. i definitely wanted to acknowledge that supervisor composts and hillary ronan from

his office, because they were responsible for winning 11-0 support from august of last year. i am also proud to be a part of that effort of an ally with the progress of workers alliance. since the campaign began a few years ago, they have made major improvements. with the second part of this campaign, this is one way the workers will be more empowered to stand up for themselves, and to ensure we have the strongest possible effort to end wage that in san francisco. with the community-based organizations and agencies that have been fighting wage that for years, people of knowledge on a national level, a $30 billion is stolen from workers every year in this country. the check please study that was done showed that it is really an epidemic locally in san

francisco, and not just neighborhoods like chinatown, but it spreads throughout different neighborhoods. i am very proud courageous workers from one of the richmond district restaurants stood a strong, challenged their employer for $316,000 their wages, and without the support of labor enforcement, legislation like last year's historic wage that ordnance and efforts in san francisco to raise awareness and education about the wage theft epidemic, the workers would not have been successful. i want to acknowledge this is really driving to make sure san francisco is in the lead of fighting against wage that double local level in national model, too. thank you to supervisor campos and the progress of workers alliance. i hope that it will be

anonymously -- unanimously supported. supervisor avalos: thank you. why don't we go to public comment. we do not have any cards. people can come right up. we can have a line in the center aisle. >> good morning. i am a staff attorney of the legal aid society. i wanted to draw attention to the national epidemic of wage that. -- wage theft. $30 billion are stolen from workers nationally every year. that is wagers in which employers owed to workers but failed to pay. we know proportionally affects low-wage workers and immigrants

and other vulnerable populations, and especially those that work in the underground economy. studies have shown 70% of workers and low-wage industries experience wage theft. a quarter of workers are not paid minimum wage. three-quarters are not paid overtime premiums when they work overtime. the average is $51 in stolen every week in their wages. that accounts for 15% of the income. studies have focused not only across the nation, but also specifically on different industries. day laborers, half of day laborers have been completely denied payments for their work. in restaurants, 50% of workers report overtime violations. we know this is a problem that affects workers, but also

affects communities. low-wage workers spend their money in community. they spend their money at local businesses. when businesses are less, cities are in less. the client this affects local ae governments. we also know business is best deal money from workers, steel them from government as well. they fail to pay workman's comp. they fail to pay payroll. this affects not only the workers, but the city and local government. think you. ank you. >> good morning. i am from the filipino community center. one of the nine organizations that are part of the progress of workers alliance.

the organization has been working in the community for many years and black latino, asian, clear, pacific islander and young worker communities. the progress of worker alliance includes the filipino community center. power, pride at work, and young workers united. together, they have been working in communication -- communities across the city with its laborers, domestic workers, including filipino care givers. we have been working closely on the ground with those that of been suffering under the wage theft nationally. we have launched a project at the sec to look into the care

giver project. in this community where we have a lot of immigrants, low- income, underground workers and low-wage workers that are suffering from a wage that here did we have to expose this. it is the work on the ground. we are able to lift up the voices of workers and the epidemic happening in the communities. the workers can feel empowered to come forward. the tens of thousands of wages we of one recently has increased other workers to come forward, and we appreciate the effort of the committee and the legislation to create this task force. >> [speaking spanish]

>> good morning, supervisors. i am a member of young workers united. the main reason i got involved with young workers united is because i was suffering from an abusive from my boss at work. >> [speaking spanish] >> so when i started working at the restaurant i was training for two weeks with no pay.

>> [speaking spanish] >> so after working there, when i started working full time, my boss said for a full-time work i was doing, i would only get $200 per week. >> [speaking spanish] >> i was working full-time and over time, and my overtime pay was never paid to me, and i never got any breaks. >> [speaking spanish]

>> so for the $200 a week, i was working there sometimes eight hours, sometimes 12 hours, sometimes he tell me when i could go. during this whole time i had no breaks. i was cleaning every inch of this restaurant from the kitchen, outside, and dining hall, and it was a lot of pressure. >> [speaking spanish]

>> so his demeanor was actually a really bad one. he would pressure us a lot, even to the point of scaring us. that is why i was tired of working there and had the courage to file a wage claim. >> [speaking spanish]

>> [inaudible] >> gracias. [applause] >> next speaker, please. >> my name is tiffany crane, and i am wort with young workers un we see many workers who walked

through our day telling stories of wage steps. i am here to say that we also have challenges to get workers paid. we have a real strong community backing, but we still have problems getting workers paid. we have seen how the collaboration between departments in the city and working with the city has been helpful,, in one case in particular we had a restaurant where workers were owed and $20,000, and after the state issued a judgment, the workers were owed the money and we put pressure on the employer to pay. it was almost a year after the judgment when we went to the department of public health. there was one hearing where the employer was called in, and the department of public health said they would suspend the license of this particular restaurant if

it did not pay the workers. within seven days they were paid with a cashier's check. we see the power of the different departments to help. we think the value of the task force is great. we do want to go after the bad actors and support the response will businesses, and in this case, we have responsible businesses at the table to talk about how this affects business is doing the right thing. we do want to support business is doing the right thing. this will give an opportunity for voices to be heard, and the powers of ideas for all different departments and responsible businesses to create a task force that will continue to lead the country and worker rights and striving

businesses. >> good morning, supervisors. i am with the chinese workers' association. we have been serving the chinese community for 40 years now. i want to recognize there are many workers an audience today, and not everyone is share -- ready to share their story with you because the threat of retaliation is very real. we have allies with the progress of workers alliance. we were to end wage theft. we also work with workers to end wage theft in their workplace. just this past month at the chinese workers' association we have four cases in chinatown, one case from the senate of district. as you can see, it is happening throughout the city. >> most of the cases are

currently in the restaurant industry. some include workers employers paying $250 per month for working six days a week. that is less than $4 an hour without any overtime calculation. there are cases where workers have not paid for many months. even though the progress of workers alliance and progress of agency have really good victories, waged that is still a huge issue in the community. the city can better use the resources by having the city agencies work together. it is also an for and for them to work together with community organization that has a long- term relationship and underserved communities. we