thank you for your work on this as well as many of the community today and laborers on the minimum wage. part of the workers alliance and campaign for fair economy who represents restaurant workers, retail workers and domestic workers and laborers in san francisco. we've all seen that san francisco has had a huge economic increase in the tech industry and real estate development, but that by no means is a measure of economic success. what is a measure of economic success is handout how -- san francisco is going to address the needs of our workers in san francisco. right now we are leading the way in economic inequality. but that's not the legacy we want to lead. the legacy we want is is for san francisco to have the highest minimum wage in the country to give our working families and youth a chance to be able to live

and thrive in our diverse city. we are really excited about this minimum wage measure as well as the commitment from supervisors and mayor's office to ensure that this minimum wage is adequately enforced and we look forward to november leading the way to the highest minimum wage in the country. thank you. >>supervisor jane kim: thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. steve fields and director of non-profit provider and speaking on behalf of the human services network, the coalition of 100 nonprofit health and human services provider. we are really pleased to see this measure moving forward. i want to especially acknowledge that this city, this jurisdiction maybe the first jurisdiction in the country that from the beginning acknowledged the necessity to speak to the non-profit partners in developing a fair and equitable minimum wage measure. and it's typical of san francisco that it steps

for it in all of these issues. we appreciated being in the conversation. we also appreciated the tone of the conversation with community activist labor and the non-profits all trying to come together to find something that was going to work and move our city forward. so we are very pleased to encourage the committee to move this out with a positive vote to the full board. the non-profit sector. even though the vast majority of our workers meets beyond the minimum wage wage and there is a sector that this is benefit and we hope with the rising tide raises all boats that will help those that are barely make it to see economic growth in their life so families can stay in this city. i want to thank you for the long meetings we had and

i look forward to the campaign. >> thank you, mr. fields. >> good afternoon, supervisors. supervisor yee, supervisors campos and tanning -- tang and kim. i want to truly let you know how grateful we are that all the time in the mayor's office and some of the supervisors we talked to individually specifically today i'm going to address the cop-out for 55 plus older workers. i think many people do not know that for seniors to be eligible for medicare they have to have a work history of 10 years and a full 40 quarters. many people thought that only if i work one or two 2 years when i grow to be 65 i automatically get medicare. this is not so. almost 30 years ago, the

elderly, the older workers who do not get medicare will be in a dire situation particularly when health care is so costly. first we provide training and we hire people over 55 and provide employers, people like us who house housekeepers and they work for 10 plus years, maybe 12. at 65 they qualify for social security. we are not here to ask for a discounted minimum wage rate because we want to pay the older workers lower. we are just here to make sure that older workers get social security and medicare at age 65. thank you very much for listening and for your compassion for our community and help us maintain these 400 plus jobs for this population. thank you. >> thank you, ms. chung.

>> chair yee and members of the rules committee. my name is samantha higgins here to represent the golden restaurant association and express our thoughts about the minimum wage measure. we are appreciative that the mayor is able to reach the minimum wage ballot. as you know the carve out and total compensation approach for minimum wage. we would welcome the reconsideration of these request. at a minimum wage we hope that you might consider the letter we joined seeking one for employers with fewer than 100 full time equivalent employees the january 1, 2015, rate would be $11 and each july thereafter until july 2019 when the rate would expire and these shall apply. 2, the government supported

employee rate should be applicable to all employees for temporary or after school summer or trainee positions with youth or young adults under 25 provided this rate would not be paid to any individual for more than 120 days for any calendar year. no. 3, on or before any year if the employer finds that of the prior year had increased year to year by more than 50 percent, the required first minimum wage adjustment shall be suspended. as you may know restaurants are a low margin endeavor and we are experiencing a boom in the restaurant industry by restaurants who are experiencing a shortage of labor. we want to go on the record by saying we are not opposed to the minimum wage increase, rather the concern is to keep it best affordable. with this mind we ask you to take into consideration as you deliberate the potential

change to the minimum wage ordinance. we to believe the wage workers need a raise. >> thank you. i know that we are to let you know not to sit on the floor. there are a number of seats on the first three rows. please feel free to take those seats. >> speaking spanish. [ spanish speaker ]

>> good afternoon, my name is canned alar i menendez with the progressive workers alliance. i'm here to give you all my testimony. it's time that we do something for our communities. our people are not currently able to pay for their basic needs with the salaries and the wages that are being paid, not even rent for a single room in our city. the rent has become so expensive and folks are making ends meet are scraping pennies together to pay for rent and transportation and food as well. we already have too many people in san francisco sleeping on the streets without a roof over their heads and we do not need

anymore. today i got a call from a volunteer at the tennants clinic, i got a call from a woman desperate because she had just been evicted because she could not pay for the rent. her ssi was only $500 and on top of that the wages she would earn as a minimum wage worker did not support her being able to pay for the rents in either of places she lived and this is a chronic eviction she had been seeing and didn't have support from her family members because they are not able to also pay their rent. it's time now to ensure that our workers in san francisco are able to meet their needs and our wages need to increase to ensure that they are meeting the price of what living in san francisco is costing now. thank you so much. >> thank you, mr. menendez.

>> supervisors, my name is connie ford and i'm one of the vice-president's of the san francisco labor council. i am actually quite proud here to stand here before you. the labor council, other unions and many other community organizations work hard for this calling us the coalition for the fair campaign, we got in the streets and negotiated with the mayor and with everybody's help we have come up with one of the most exciting minimum wage initiatives the country has ever seen. many of us were there 10 years ago and now we are awe fully proud. i just want to caution you about ted eagan's good report that in a week uc berkeley is going to produce another report, like the glass is half full and

half empty where ted eagan said that 60,000 workers are going to benefit from this. we understand that over 100,000 workers from uc berkeley will benefit where ted eagan says the city will flow by the dollars. uc says 10s if not hundreds of millions of dollars will benefit over time. this is really important for the city and when supervisors campos talks about comparison to uganda, it's about time that we work hard to get this passed because it's going to benefit every single one of us, our children and grandchildren. thank you very much. >> thank you. before the next speaker, i'm going to call more speakers. i forgot to mention san francisco chamber

of commerce. john sackey. teresa molina, bob cass ana, jeffrey hunter, tavia. >> good afternoon, my name is pilar schiavo from the california nurses association. we are part of the campaign for a fair economy and we fought very hard for this and appreciate the leadership by supervisor kim and we worked with the mayor's office and our coalition to come to #2k3wr50e789 and -- agreement and the larger fight that i know supervisor campos now is engaged in. that's one of the reasons as a nurse that you can't be health and provide

for your families. nurses have told me about when they are taking care of children who are cancer patients and their parents can't be there because they have to go to work. who should have to make that choice? this is something that we see day in and day out when people are making decisions about medications and being able to is survive and pay rent and putting food on the table for their children. we are very proud that san francisco is leading the way in this movement nationally and we hope this is something that will set the standard for the rest of the nation because we know san francisco while workers here are hurting, arguably the most of any business workers in the country, we know workers are hurting nationally as well. this is one of the reasons that we are fighting a main street campaign around housing and education and health care

and living wage jobs and we appreciate the supervisors support. we hope that you will forward this and expect that you will and look forward to a unanimous vote of the full board. thank you. >> good evening, my name is amy aguilera. we are here to support the ballot measure to support minimum wage. everyday it's becoming more difficult for working families to stay afloat with the rising cost-of-living and the inflated housing prices. so as prices go up our wages do not follow. it's leading individuals and families and communities in the dark. so san francisco needs solutions like this to keep our communities afloat and raising the minimum wage is definitely a step in the right direction. like supervisor campos mentioned san francisco has to do better and now is the opportunity to do so and lead the way in minimum wage.

thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is antonio diaz. i'm with podder and san francisco rising. i'm here to raise our support for minimum wage. going on two 2 years now with podder with coalition that we work with in district 11 publiced this report. it was based on the community consultation where there were 200 residents and workers in district 11. we did sessions in spanish and tagalog and cantonese and english. one of the reoccurring issues that came up in the session that we had with community members in the neighborhood was the issue of at the current jobs that they just do not pay sufficient wages. we have drafted this report with the recommendations, but

obviously in terms of a way to get us there, the raising of the minimum wage is an important step. it's not just raising the minimum wage but also ensuring it's enforcement is crucial along with bold policies around housing, education, community and economic development that will help workers in san francisco, not just is survive but ideally thrive. thank you. >> good afternoon, supervisors. my name is tav ia. a second generation native san franciscoan. rent not affordable. not even a lousy hotel. i think bed bugs are

getting a better deal than us. you may giggle about that, but it's true. it's really getting bad out there. i speak because i'm an ihs worker and i make minimum wage too and i fight for that. i'm a live in worker and provider for him. if i didn't have him, there is no telling where i would be, in a doorway or something. lord knows i have been there before and would not like to go back. we all need to bond and not just low income people, all of us need to as city of san franciscans to show pride. this is something we've all earned. this is something we need to keep and so you can

look at your grandchildren and say, hey, i remember when that building was there. i feel that way. it's not fair that you have to live in a dump. and then have other people in nice places. i don't know what you guys can do, but all i can do is tell you how i feel and what's going on out there and it's getting worse. there are lots of kids from all over and sleeping on the street. it's just, [inaudible] >> thank you for coming to speak. >> good afternoon, john sacke deputy director and cochair of the council. i'm here to

speak in favor of this measure and especially about the provision which provides an alternative wage for government supported youth employees. 10 years ago, while we very much supported the minimum wage measure, providers who provides work for youth were not available. hundreds of the youth we served their positions were unfortunately eliminated due to limitations in available resources. right now young people are recovering from the highest youth unemployment on record in this country. my organization alone is weight ait listing over 2,000 people a year. it was vital that we

maintain at the table the need for these young people's needs were addressed. i'm very pleased to say that folks were very sensitive to the needs of these young people. it would be great to pay a few of them a little bit more, but by far the need to serve as many of them and to make as many of them as employable as possible. i wanted to speak up for young people. i very much support the process and how inclusive it was and i just urge you toed -- today to move this forward and pass this in november. thank you very much. >> [ spanish speaker ]

>> good afternoon. my name is teresa molina the president of workers alliance of san francisco rising. i'm here in support to raise the minimum wage. right now the minimum wage is not enough in san francisco for rent and food.

for me, i work and i also have to recycle collecting cans just to make ends meet to be able to pay for food, rent, fast pass, transportation to be able to is survive here. i'm here asking you to please support the minimum wage raise to $15 an hour. thank you. >> good afternoon, jim lazarus san francisco council. thank you to the board and mayor and his staff moving us to one measure. having competitive measures on the ballot would not have been the way to go. i hope the two measures for hearing later can end up on the ballot or perhaps legislatively through the normal process that we don't have competitive housing measures. our concern was mentioned earlier by the restaurant association. it's not $15 an hour, it's how do

we get to $15 an hour. we made it clear from the beginning that we supported that goal as the business community. i think that's broad based within the san francisco business community. the question still remains whether or not there will be a negative job impact and time will tell. i think our history since 2003 when we put in the first local minimum wage indicated some impacts. in 10 yearscious the cost of hiring entry level in san francisco became 60 percent between minimum wage and health care security ordinance and cost on sick leave benefits. the result of that was a significant slowdown in job growth in san francisco until just a few years ago. in 2013, we hit 6 thousand jobs in san francisco since 2000. our concern is that there can be negative job impact, with not layoffs but perhaps slow job

growth. we wish this had a broader, longer ramp up. we think we should have something for especially for smaller businesses, but at the same time, we do want to salute those that participated in making this possible. we know it's going to be a successful measure on the november ballot. thank you very much. >> thank you, mr. lapis zarus. >> hello, my name is barbara. i'm here from the scene 84 -- senior and disability action group. we advocate for their needs and help educate them and help organize around the various issues of the problems they are facing. health care issues, caregiver issues, ihs and housing issues. you will ask how does this impact the minimum wage. the whole city

has been completely hit hard by the increase of cost in the city. i won't even bother. blah blah blah. everybody knows what's happening. because we are non-profit we also support these wages for nonprofit. the second thing, i also live in district 6, thank you, ms. kim. this is not a wealthy district at all. everyday you walk down the street and you see many homeless people and people who are very poor, old people who can barely leave their apartments and people who need caregivers to help them live fuller lives. this issue of minimum wage is not an abstraction. it hits people's lives directly and we are happy that the st e is taking it seriously and putting it forward and i understand 60 percent of people in san

francisco are already supporting it. if it's put on the ballot, i'm sure it will be a success and real star in san francisco's crown. so please carry on and thank you very much. >> good afternoon, supervisors. supervisor kim, i would like to thank you for connecting this hearing. i also want to say i don't think it's realistic for anybody to think that there will be some possible negative job impact but if you look at the whole picture, there are many out there living one paycheck from being out on the street. i support the minimum wage and hope you can get that passed in the ballot. >> i want to congratulations the board and everyone in the room for achieving this. so that loved ones and neighbors

can work everyday. the organization i work for is going to affect about 50 workers. i also want to mention that the restaurant had similar concerns when you enacted healthy sf and you return to that issue and draft legislation to stop the restaurants from pocketing millions of dollars that they said was being put aside for their employees health care. i want to ensure you that we'll continue to be the boots on the ground behind these initiatives and with supervisor kim's health initiative. thank you. >> good afternoon supervisors, my name is tony robles and senior with disability action and board member with the heritage foundation. minimum wage i think the in accrues in minimum wage i understand is

going to be incremental. and while i commend the step in the direction, i think more has to be done. we are living probably in the first or second most expensive city in the country. we have seen wages that have been stagnate for decades. so, what we are looking at really is an issue of economic equity. the hotel struggle whose anniversary is coming up in early august was not only about housing equity but also about economic equity. we see the faces here and i was very much moved by the comments of the ihs worker who is a seventh generation of san francisco. it's good to see the youth here in numbers that are telling what are the youth saying? they are

saying they want a better life, they want economic quit, equity, they want economic equity, we've seen them take autopsy -- all of our raises and the work that our work has produced and put in their pockets. while we are increasing the minimum wage, we not only want to see a maximum equity and share, but there is much more to be done. i commend supervisor kim for sponsoring this. let's make it higher. let's work towards beyond 15 and working towards more economic equity, not only in san francisco but throughout this country and throughout this world. thank you. >> good afternoon supervisors, my name is