nonafrican american have been promoted from part-time to full-time. i'm not going to talk about or go into detail how i can't be trained in english because a person training me, english is not good enough i can ask appropriate questions and get appropriate answers. i was drinking coffee one morning, 5:45 in the morning before i started hi shift and the supervisor, tony ku, picks his nose and wipes his boogers on my shirt. his protection has come totally at my expense, totally at my expense. my pocket is suffering because of this supervisor's deeds. if what you permit, you promote. this type of action is promoted. it's permitted because it's promoted. and no, nothing happens with the

supervisor, grounds for dismissal is what's supposed to happen when you tell somebody an unwanted touch. i don't play games like that, i'm a grown man. had i been in some sort of a, had i been having a bad day i might have done something else. then i would be shipped directly to 850 bryant with the bail so high, so high i would not be able to make bail. all this has happened at my expense. we need something to be done about what goes on, especially at san francisco general hospital. it hurts every day to come into that job, i never been so humiliated in my life. so embarrassed. how do you tell someone someone put boogers on you. be don't work in the sand box. >> supervisor kim: thank you, thank you. and so, i'm going to call, i see more than 15 people in line and i only called 15 names, 15 other speaker cards. the reason i ask you to respect

the calling the speaker cards is a, they are your colleagues and members of your union and they did sign the cards expecting to speak at that time. so, i'm going to call the next 15 speakers cards. madeline mcmilan, john wadsworth, steve zolta, queen vanessa banks. dmitrious cutin, evelyn, lon, estelle yancey, john wadsworth, rudy gonzales, larry, skyler, michelle, and jessica brown. thank you. >> thank you, supervisor kim, supervisor brown, supervisor fewer. and the other supervisors who have sponsored today's hearing. i think the questions we need to ask of the city and h.r., why is it that 50% of the terminations

last year were of african american workers. why is it that 25% of probation releases were african american workers. why is it that 40% of medical separations in the past five years were african american workers. why? why is it that 68% of african american workers earn less than the average wage in the city. and why is it that these are the first classifications to be targeted when the economy slows down. they get laid off, these are the classifications that get deskilled, these are the classifications that wages have been cut. some of them are in this room. who have earnings $7 an hour less than other people working alongside them doing the exact same work. why has the city not fixed that? why has the city not fixed the legacy of the descaling in 2008 and over 1,000 of our members

have not been made whole. so we are here today, and i can tell you why. because racism has been normalized in the work force. it's normal now to treat african americans disparitily, and we say it has to stop. we are saying here it's not normal, we are not going to take it anymore. and that it has to stop. but racism also has a price, not just to the victim, some are here today. racism also has a price to the residents of the city. the city has spent over $70 million in the last ten years fighting discrimination lawsuits. that's $70 million that could have been used to expand city services. [mic is silent]

>> supervisor kim: thank you. thank you very much. >> good afternoon, board of supervisors. my name is aaron kramer, a registered nurse at san francisco general hospital. and i'm proudly standing here to make a stand against racism and

discrimination of all forms. motto of san francisco general hospital is treat all patients with compassion and respect. and a lot of the times i feel that we can't achieve that goal if management can't even treat our employees that way. and i'm standing here today to represent a group of union members, 15 members that were laid off at the end of the fiscal year. these members are women, these members are minorities, and they were laid off as needed retirees, seen as making too much money or whatever you want to call it, but sure they are prop f, as needed, but the hospital has suffered a vacancy rate of rns for 10% or more for several, several months now. we have a national nursing shortage and it's the patients, it's the members of the public that depend on our hospital that suffer when we don't have nurses, boots on the ground, to take care of them when they are injured or ill.

and so lay off 15 nurses because they are retirees or they are older or whatever you want to say, or whatever excuse you want to use, it's very upsetting. you know, racism, discrimination takes many shapes and forms, and so i'm standing with my brothers and sisters for every one that has been intimidated, bullied, retaliated against, we are sick of it and asking you to take a stand. thank you very much. >> supervisor kim: thank you mr. kramer. next speaker. >> good afternoon. my name is james harris. not james henis. my name is james harris, not james henis. i work for city and county of

san francisco for 16 years. i am here today to let you know what my experience has been as a black city employee. while at work a horrible accident happened, and i believe because of my race i was forced to early retirement, or be fired. i was accused of hitting a person who was in a wheelchair, she went to, she was in a wheelchair. and after i hit her, she went to the hospital and two days after her hospital admission she died. oh. the circumstances around my case is simple.

i was going 15 miles an hour while making a left hand turn. she appeared on my right side, of my left hand side, by a stationary bus. the wheelchair was rolling toward me, we couldn't, she couldn't stop. she ended up on the hood of my car, and then hit the ground. there was an investigation, consisted in -- [microphone is silent]

>> supervisor kim: thank you, mr. hanon. >> hello, my name is madeline mcmilan, i work for the san francisco police department. i've been working there for 25 years. i was in an accident and was off work. prior to me being in this accident, there was a young, white police officer that was brought into my unit because she was working on light duty.

once i left due to my accident, when i came back to work, she had taken over my whole desk, all my duties, she was now doing everything that i did. i went to my lieutenant to request my duties back, because i am a secretary. she was a police officer. nothing happened. they just kind of like brushed me under the rug and told me that they would investigate. nothing happened. so, i went to the captain and asked them for my jobs back. i was just in-office doing nothing for the whole eight hours of the day. nothing happened. i went to the commander, and requested my duties back. the commander made a comment that normally people come in here to see me because they have too much work. i've never had anyone come to me

and ask for their job back, they wanted work. so, to make a long story short, i filed a complaint for discrimination, once the complaint went through, i got removed from my desk, i was moved down the hall and to an isolated area where no one was, and i was there all by myself. that was retaliation to me. and so i got a reply back from mickey callahan saying there was no merit to my discrimination or retaliation. >> supervisor kim: thank you, and yes, you can submit that letter to the committee and we'll take it. >> steve sellsser, united public workers for action. i think we have seen from the testimony and the evidence, particularly patrick, that there is systemic racism in san

francisco. it's not news. its gone on for decades. the city has paid out tens of million dollars of dollars for settlements and yet the supervisor, the managers still continue to work for the city and county of san francisco. mickey callahan talks about dealing with racism and discrimination. yet the same people who do it are promoted. are executives. what kind of accountability is that? additionally the police department has ordered one officer not to appear here to testify, and this police officer can testify about the racist texting that has gone on and the cover-up in the police department. why is the police department allowed to avoid this hearing what's going on in the city and county of san francisco? why n we have to say there is a systemic pattern of racism, a systemic pattern of terrorism against african american employees and part is the privatization of jobs and

outsourcing. they want to privatize the pharmacy department at general hospital, they want temporary workers to further discriminate. public workers have been away, they are working people. they have gotten ahead and they want to destroy all that. that's what's going on with privatization, and i have to add that the mayor of san francisco says she wants to do something. she wants to deal with racism and discrimination. you start with the top. you start with the top. when people commit racist and illegal acts they have to be held accountable. what they do, they blame the victim, they blame the people that have been assaulted. that is wrong, that has to come to an end, and this is not this hearing is a one-shot deal. systemic racism is not going to -- >> supervisor kim: thank you. >> my name is delfina hearty, a

nurse at county jail two and here to talk about the racism with the management in the nursing department, when i went on workers comp the manager wanted to give my job to a new employee. she told her i was not coming back. how do you figure i'm not coming back? no one said i was not coming back. then she wants to say oh, she's intimidated by me, the management. how are you going to be intimidated by me when you can ask me my personal business about who i'm having sex with in the jail, and that's none of your damn business what i have going on. you are not intimidated, but the problem is, that i speak up, i speak up for myself and the people that cannot speak up for themselves in my jail. the other issues that we are having is that they don't hire african americans in our jail. they always say they don't apply for the jobs, they weren't qualified when a lot of them are

overqualified because i sent some of my rn friends in sacramento to come up and work at the county jails and they were denied. and sent some lvns and they were denied. it's a problem in san francisco city and county they need to deal with the middle management doing the hiring. take away the hiring from the middle managers like emile del prado. yes, i'm calling names. thank you. >> supervisor kim: thank you, police hearty. -- thank you, miss hearty. i just want to make another announcement, if you are in the overflow room at north lake court there, is room now in chamber if you want to come in to be inside the chamber. and thank you president cohen, who just appointed supervisor fewer to our committee as well. >> good afternoon, supervisors

brandon dauk ins, a health worker four at laguna hospital, and chief steward 1021. i have any own documented experiences of racism, stuff i witnessed, members, fellow members, fellow brothers and sisters that have came to the defense in meetings to help save some of their jobs and some could not do it because of the racism in the city and county of san francisco. i have tons of documentation about that. however, i want to speak today from a colleague of mine, wrote a letter and cannot be here today. his name is dr. justin morgan. letter reads this. my name is dr. justin morgan. and i am the only african american male primary care physician in the health department community based clinics. i have received awards from the board of supervisor z and the

mayor's office for my dedication to the health of the people of san francisco and was elected by the san francisco voters for the democratic party central committee. when i applied for the senior management position with the heather department, i got turned down because of the bias hiring practices of our department. i hold in my hand the current and the past list of applicants for open medical director positions with the department. my name is on both lists and i know like the last time i will not be called to the interview for certain positions because d.p.h. hiring managers have already decided on who they wanted to hire before the list even came out. now if you ask the health department about this, they will say it's not true about you if you investigate the health department you will find it is. unfair and bias hiring decisions long made before the jobs are even posted before the applications are even reviewed.

most of the departments, whenever you walk in -- [microphone is silent] >> supervisor kim: thank you, mr. daukins. would you be able to submit the letter to the committee so we can have it as part of our file? thank you. i'm so sorry, that is your time. thank you. thank you.

>> hello, gayle birdssong, seiu rep for the city and county workers here in san francisco. formerly i was a rep in solano county and brought her to help resolve the issue regarding the racism and discrimination against the workers here in san francisco. among other issues. but not only am i a rep for seiu workers, i was born here, i was raised here, my father retired from the city who has now passed away. i have a host of family members that still work here, in department of housing, san francisco general hospital, and muni, and a lot of other places here in the city. so i do have a vested interest in this city. also and most profoundly, i'm an african american woman, and who has been discriminated against on the job and off the job. last night i attended one of my first general membership meetings here in san francisco with these employees.

some of the stories i heard were disturbing, of course, regarding discrimination against them. it reminded me of some of the stories my father told me about in the 1960s when he worked here in san francisco, how he was treated like second class citizen. so it's just really disturbing that in this day and age it's still going on in the city, i was gone 30 years only to come back and see the same things are still happening. i'm glad to be here as a union rep to help resolve some of the issues. i hope some of the employees call me on it, i will fight for them 100% if i am called. one of the stories that disturbed me en the general membership meeting, many employees brought up the director of human resources name and there are avenues to resolve these issues with --

[microphone is silent] >> thank you, thank you. it's just quickly, let mr. bryant make an announcement. >> one thing, we have the meeting scheduled until 1:00, everybody, 30 minutes and you can see the line here. so, if we can try to be mindful of that, so make sure everybody has the opportunity to say the word. so, try to be as concise as possible, thank you. >> supervisor kim: thank you. good afternoon. my main concerns are d

discriminatory and retaliatory what i suffer, due to my race and protected status. mallory branch, a native of san francisco, born and raised. i am a wife, a mother, a daughter, and a sister. i have a bachelor's degree in social work from texas southern university, masters degree in social work from san francisco state university. i was a 2940 protective service worker for the city and county of san francisco. not only that, but during my internship i interned with the city and county of san francisco. i went through the internship to know what it is i needed to do as a 2940, protective service worker. i'm going to tell you a little about my experience once i was hired for the city and county of san francisco. first of all, i left a rewarding job in san joaquin county as a child care worker to come work for the city of san francisco where i wanted to work for since i was eight years old and give back to the forgotten

communities, oppressed communities because i do know what it's like to be on the other side of receiving services when you come from a family of nine and you are living in public housing, you know what the experience is like. so, always my desire as a little girl to give back to this community. i experienced on the job racism, targeted, bullying from my supervisor and things of that nature and i'll leave you guys with this. i had an accident where i was rear ended in a county vehicle. i was rear ended, i was injured. i left for medical leave, i had two weeks 'til my probation was up. they fired me as one of my sisters said, they didn't release me from termination, from probation, they -- [microphone is silent]

>> supervisor kim: thank you, miss branch. thank you. >> good afternoon, ida mccray, i work for the sheriff's department, i have masters degrees, and this is a window of opportunity. we can each get into our own issues with bullying, people turning on the lights where you sit and demanding who can be trained and where they can be trained and the push out when you complain. but i beg this committee to start doing something about this. i am born and raised here, my parents came here looking for the warmth of other sons and found a different type of sun, and that is liberalism in an

umbrella and we need to stop. if there's no such thing as race and already scientifically proven there is no such thing as race, let's act like it. thank you. >> supervisor kim: thank you. >> greetings, i'm an activity therapist at laguna honda hospital, 3 of 30 activity therapists who are of african did descent. here to speak about disappointment and disgust about the discrimination and racism as well as the lack of accountability and responsibility by the people who have the authority and power to provide the appropriate care for the residents at laguna honda. about 30% of the residents that are of african descent, and i have taken it upon myself to

learn how to speak can to niece and work on the cantonese unit. yet i was discouraged to participate on an employee-run committee, the african american committee for black history month. that is not ok. if all of my performance reviews are excelling, above and beyond, when there are asian activity therapists who do not work on the asian unit, and i do that. secondly, more recently, as of last thursday, i came back to my unit, only find one of the residents that i care for sitting at a table that she does not usually sit at. it was not her designated area, and right before her was a piece of paper that indicated what is

regina spelled backwards. it spells nigger. that's not ok for a person with dementia, to not know who put it in front of her, was in tears. i took it upon myself -- [microphone is silent] >> supervisor kim: thank you. thank you. >> good afternoon, rudy gonzales, with the san francisco labor council. represent over 140 unions in the city, many have delegates here. calling out injustice is the

first step. i commend the committee, supervisor fewer here today on your leadership to do that. i'm not talking at you, but you represent an institution that has executive management that are in control of some of these systemic problems. you are hearing about the symptoms. people are speaking out, people are rising up and together as a union, seiu 1021, and other groups and collectives, they have some -- we will hold the people accountable. we don't have all the power. don't have the power of the mayor's office. don't have the power of the board of supervisors and that's why these types of hearings, they may be frustrating and may be difficult to face some of these realities, we have to take this first step, and we have to take it further. because we have heard about recruitment, heard about hiring today, and while some of these measures, when you compare them to our own past here, may seem like improvements, it's not enough.

and what workers have said outside in the halls today and in the steps, and in the chamber, enough is enough. but there's not enough happening. we need more. we need moaccountability, and wn i think about the struggle we have had with law enforcement and community, and think about the independent oversight people yearn for out of a police commission, and then look at the civil service commission, it does not look like this room. does not look like the people in the rank and file struggling to get promoted and to advance. so, we have some systems we can improve and we have some real tangible things that can be done. and i don't -- as just an individual, i don't believe mickey callahan has all that power. i believe there is a system in place and structure that supports some of this systemic racism -- [microphone is silent]

>> thank you, mr. gonzales. >> good afternoon, supervisors. dmitrious katino, and i work for the city and county of san francisco in their water treatment facilities. as you see, this is a systemic throughout the whole city. i filed a complaint with d.h.r. and e.o., the office they took the complaint in, and threw it in the garbage, never filed it and he strung me along telling me he was investigating it when he wasn't, and his last comment to me was well, you are the only one complaining, and why should that make a difference. i think, and i went -- excuse

me, ran into one white lawyer after another when i was talking to them about this, and they don't seem to have the sensibilities and what it means to be discriminated against, and what discrimination is. complaints are going like a black hole. complaints go in and they don't come out. they don't deal with them, they don't investigate them, and this is something that needs to be looked at. i mean, the city has hired lawyers all the time. what's wrong with the person that has the masters, the bachelor's, that has went to school for h.r. or e.e.o. i mean, you know, these lawyers seem to be representing management and the city, and sweeping things under the rug, and something needs to be done about it. thank you. >> supervisor kim: thank you. before the next speaker comes up, i am seeing more people have lined up than i have called, i'll call the next round of cards as well. tony kelly, korea pearce, ford,

keith, danielle, kristin, rafael dagaso, darla brown, carol tatun, rosalind butler, kirk chiels, and tawanda bailey. thank you. >> good evening, colleagues and supervisors. my name is evelyn, and i'm the executive 1021, and vice, and work for the city and county, and i started working here as a custodian, but first retaliation, harassment, discrimination had been with my late husband working here. they didn't want him, so

therefore he quit, retaliation and harassment to him. he was a professional supervisor from kaiser hospital but then come aboard, everything came loose. as a custodian before, like one of our colleague in here, i got rear ended, but since they said the bus or the van i was driving was in a damage, was not going to be in service no more, and they said it cost $60,000. and they lied, it was not that much, i was laid up two days. and we are part of the union at that time, didn't have the station, so therefore i went to be as a union rep for myself. and hopefully helping everybody not to -- not the shoes i have right now, but even me right now, and kept going to get more, a better job. i was denied for the position, i

went to school and supposed to get reimbursement to have my own experience in things, i was denied. even though for four years, the only woman on the list, i was denied and discriminated for the position. and now that i'm a union rep and still fighting for all of this, supervisor called me as a troublemaker. every time i go to the meeting, that's my nickname now. [microphone is silent] >> supervisor kim: thank you. thank you. thank you. >> good afternoon, addressing the city and county of san francisco.

my name is -- >> supervisor kim: you want to lift the mic. >> estelle yancey, a former employee who actually left the city in 2013 under stress and durress and racism from a current boss. the my question now is, i know for a fact that there is difference in the city's behavior in treating african american individuals. myself as being a woman. i asked to be reinstated and i got several letters from you're personnel department saying they made a business decision. my question to that group is, my job is a highly technical job, it was to treat the water for 3.2 million customers and it's a job that takes time to learn. so, when i'm asking to be reinstated, they are saying that

it's a business decision and i thought that business decisions were made under the guise of how lucrative something is. so, if you are going to take something, take a person off the list that has never worked in the position over somebody who comes highly trained and was a supervisor and already knows the job, i can't see where that's a business decision. especially with the fact that all whites before me, male and female, were allowed to do this 2 and 3 times and i have the evidence. so, my question is, why am i continually applying for a job that i left under stress and durress, can only be retaliation at this point and i'm still applying and this has been since 2013, and i can come and do that job today with no hassle. so, i'm just asking for why am i being treated differently. why.

>> supervisor kim: we will take all of that in our file. thank you. >> good morning, good afternoon. thank you for the opportunity to speak out about discrimination, racism, and harassing retaliatory actions against black and brown workers at the department of public health. my name is john wadsworth, i'm a union 1021 member, vice president of a chapter, and city pharmacy tech worker at the level trauma one san francisco general hospital. i'm the health care worker that makes the i.v. medications during the graveyard shifts, often for the life-threatening emergencies that come to our hospital. the discrimination, harassment, and retaliatory actions against

people of color, being head by the administrative pharmacy officer, of the san francisco general hospital pharmacy services, is impacting the delivery of services in a very negative way. i'm here today to advocate for patient care and report to you the anti-union initiatives have been wreckless. it has led to an application of professional misconduct and led to a hostile working environment that has had bullying, harassing, retaliating, and discriminatory action against black and brown workers at s.f.m.g.h. thank you. >> supervisor kim: thank you. >> good afternoon, all. my name is larry stevens, i work for the city and county of san francisco for 28 years. i'm retired now and happy i'm

retired. because it's rampant. everything my brothers and sisters have said is true. it's like the gentleman right here stated that it starts at the top. so, there's no accountability because supervisors are doing this, and they are being promoted, and we are being demoted. the way the system works here is people of color, blacks, especially, we are the first, we are the last hire and the first fire. that's always been the fact. it's not -- it's nothing to grin about here, there were certain people in here that were in high positions grinning about the stuff. it's very serious. like one of the sisters said, you are dealing with our livelihoods, our mortgages, our children, the future, and it -- and if there's going to be change, it has to start at the top.

thank you very much. >> supervisor kim: thank you. >> hello, my name is jessica brown, i work for the department of public health. i won't go into details, you've heard it all about what's been happening in this city, i think the evidence is pretty clear. i just want to speak on the fact that you know, i'm new to the city of san francisco, i came from state services and always seen san francisco as a progressive in the policies, from your ordinance that you pass on sexual orientation and gender identity, to the ordinance for gay marriage, you have always, san francisco has been a place where that leads the way for the rest of california to act. unfortunately, discrimination against black and african americans and latinos is not a new thing. it's happening throughout california and government. i came here because of how

progressive san francisco has been and that if the same issues are happening as they have been with the state. you know, my ask of you all today to really take a serious stance on these issues. hearing what people have been saying, understanding that it's not just as a data may suggest a great way of hiring african americans and unfortunately with the stories that you have been told, retaining of this talented and diverse work force is not going to happen. there are people that are coming in to the city, coming in at lower steps, paid at a lower salary, and have been, have higher education, have had several years of work experience. when i talk about, and i'm talking about specifically african american women, i know at least several have had to fight for step increase for their salary, even though their qualifications surpassed their peers, compared to their white counterparts. so, this is just more than just people upset and being passionate about the issues, it's more, this is actually happened to them as far as like their wealth and how they are able to advance in the city.

and again, me being a new person here, i don't have all the years of experience as my other counterparts that have come up here -- [microphone is silent] >> supervisor kim: thank you, thank you, miss brown. >> hi, my name is emmy millman, i am a staff from local 21. and i stand in solidarity and share outrage with seiu. thank you so much for bringing this issue to the forefront. as a representative of the union, i wanted to just share that i've had many experiences where promotion opportunities, probationary release, and i know that can discrimination was at play. i do want to share with you jessica brown, here in front of

me, there has alluded to it. in the past, six cases in one department where i became aware of people coming in, people of color coming in with, on a lower salary staff. this is really problematic. six of those people are all people of color, and five of them are african american employees. three of them have already resolved it, and are working on a couple of them. but it's not acceptable to have six for one staff to deal with in the last year. it's outrageous and should not be acceptable to the city of san francisco. i think we can do better, i know we must do better. we should be a leader on this. and i think, and again, i thank seiu and its workers. one of my members told me once when you are black or brown you go into a room and you expect discrimination, so you work

harder, you fight harder and appreciate everybody who has come here to speak their voice. i know it's not very easy, and we hope that you will, thank you for having this hearing. >> supervisor kim: thank you. >> hello, my name is tawanda bailey. i started working for the san francisco district attorney's office in 2001. in 2015, my co-worker called me a scary nigger. i reported it to my immediate supervisor, the next day, because i was scared to report it. because i saw what happened to the other two african american girls that look like me, anything pertaining to the individual that called me the scary nigger. well, i also met with the city h.r. with my union rep. later, down the line, i received a letter from mickey callahan saying she was not going to investigate my allegations.

i had a press conference 2016, and this is what the city put on the news was that while we acknowledge the extreme offensiveness of the n-word, one comment is not sufficiently enough to cause a hostile work environment. they can't tell me what caused a hostile work environment. if i would have reacted after she called me the nigger, i would be in 850 right now, ok? so i walked away from the situation. they did no investigation in-house, the city h.r. did not do investigation. what happened was, after i reported this, after i filed an eeoc complaint, went to the h.r. manager's office and asked for a copy of the complaint/report, the h.r. officer went ballistic on me, and after that i was harassed every day. placed in a hostile work environment, retaliated against in my evaluation, and

december 2015, my doctor took me off, i would have died there. my health had deteriorated, i went from taking no medications to six different medications. and i tried to go back to work only to be retraumatized by the city and county of san francisco, so now my doctor wrote the letter in june to retire me -- [microphone is silent] >> supervisor kim: thank you. thank you, miss bailey. we do have the letter from your attorney. and so thank you for bringing that as well as a response from the city. >> hi, supervisors. my name is skyler hudak, and

proud to stand here with the men and women of seiu 1021, and thank you supervisors for convening this. i know you are doing it because you want to take over and find solutions. i want to talk about the solutions. as someone who serves on the board of the foundation for s.f. general hospital, the nurses recently came to us and applied for a grant to fund positions and scholarships for african american nurses to go get their nursing degrees and track them for jobs at s.f. general. those are the kinds of solutions that are actually going to make a difference. i also want to acknowledge one of the youngest members of our delegation here today, i believe his name is omalachi, very well will be sitting in your seats leading all of us, and one of the most important things we can do is find solutions like this, scale them throughout the city. these are the solutions that

will make a difference. make sure there are jobs and opportunities, not just existing jobs but future jobs for kids and young leaders of the city like omalachi. >> thank you very much. >> good afternoon, supervisors, including my supervisor vallie brown, happy to be here in front of all of you. my name is tammy bryant. seiu 1021 steward, and delegate. i'm here because i worked for the city five years and witnessed firsthand constant discrimination against my black colleagues. seen it in the hiring or the lack thereof. in the hiring, many black workers are not getting their foot in the door. seen it in the black of promotions from my black colleagues. seen the eligible list with names of qualified colleagues who do not get the promotions they applied for. not only is it wrong for my colleagues and right for the decent livelihood, but bad for

the public they serve. do not staff the agency for what they serve, and lack of delivering the best service possible to the public. my agency treats their jobs as a career path stepping stone, they do not value delivering the best service possible, my own friend who is black was not fairly fired. she lost her job, a young mother of two. as stated earlier, this discrimination results in a lack of quality services and in the settlements that keep costing the taxpayers money due to inept management. my agency is supposed to be participating in the equity initiative through the human rights commission, but there's been no transparency in the process, they cherry pick who they want on the committee, not disseminating information to us, not even making a meaningful effort for work. when you hear about the equity

initiative, it's respect. the work is not being done. no one has talked to me or my co-workers. they cherry pick who they want and nothing will change. look good on paper but not real change, and i'm here supporting my black colleagues. these complaints and these, what they are -- [please stand by].

i had to represent an employee, not an african american, but it's fully the whole minority community that's suffering, but it is us, african americans especially. i have to represent one of my co-workers where a chair was physically pulled from underneath her by this manager, we have a nurse that works with our c.d.i. team that quit because -- [no audio] [microphone is silent] >> thank you. thank you, ms. hardy. [applause] >> hi. i'm from san francisco general hospital. it is not zuckerberg general hospital. [cheering] [applause] and when i -- and when i spoke

out about that, when i spoke out about that, i learn what had it is like to not be white because i started to get a whole other kind of treatment from administration at the hospital. when i spoke out about facebook's unethical research practice and how that was a threat to our patient population, here's what -- here's what happened. even when i tried to do something good, i came to speak at a meeting of about 60, 70 mostly manager there is and there was a presentation about sexual orientation and gender identity. and a training that i was invited to speak about so i spoke afterwards and i said i just want to say that i ham proud that my unions -- all these brothers and sisters here are supporting -- are supporting this and administration wants the same thing. because they're letting me do this -- teach this class. the chief nurse of the hospital stood up afterwards and said -- and i quote -- this is not a union business meeting and we don't want or need your support.

it's very important to know that what happened was that i'm nearly in tears and everybody in the room sits there in stunned silence. that's what happened. my supervisor comes to me and says how did you feel about that? i said how would you feel? if somebody shamed you like that? even when we try to do something together, to work out something, they will punish you. and if it wasn't for the fact that i'm old, that i'm older and white and i've got the union behind me, i would have been fired. they just would have taken me out of there. that is the reality of what it is like to be an ally. if you are an ally, you find out real quick what happens. thank you. [applause] >> so, thank you. i'm going to call more speaker cards because i realize that people are just coming up. salina, gail, vernelle, ela,

natasha, amillha. mark harris, roxy, darlene, yeva johnson and christopher christianson. i guess just i just called your name. if you could represent -- people have been waiting that i called prior to -- please go forward. >> thank you. board of supervisors, my name is ellen. i am a behavioral health clinician for public health for more than 10 years. i am a bargaining team member and a union delegate for public employees. the federal agents have been investigating management corruption. for many years. we have many members spoke to

the f.b.i. since 2011. i was one of the workers who spoke with the f.b.i. agents for management corruption. extortion, bribery. many public employees have been coming to civil services commissions to report extortion, discrimination, harassment, retaliation. many public employees protest in december 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 ongoingly for discrimination and harassment in workplaces throughout the city. specially targeted minority women, african american, asian women and latinos. i myself testify in front of the civic commissioners many, many times for discrimination, harassment, extortion and bribery. and retaliation. for example, august 15, 2016,

september 18, 2017 and many other occasions. on behalf of the union, i have brought five public employees file complaints for extortion. and retaliation. but our file has been missing from the ethics commissions. and we were told they never received it. six people still work for the city. unfortunately two months ago, one passed away because of this. yet board of the supervisors, you -- many of you can have the opportunity to make this correction. and protect our city and city workers. we all deserve to work together and treated equal -- [microphone went silent] [applause] >> good afternoon. my name is yisella ford and i work for the san francisco department of public health and i'm here in solidarity today with my black african american

brothers and sisters. i'm also the health care professionals chapter president for local 21. for 15 years, i was the s.i.u. member and i'm so proud of my brothers and sisters for having the courage to bring you this issue today and for your response and really listening to the concerns of city employees. i guess i would like to speak to the fact that a lot of my colleagues are suffering. the issue of racism and discrimination is an issue of power, privilege and resources and whos has them. and who are the decision-makers. i worked for the city and county for 20 years and i have seen a lot of people being passed up for promotions, we're encouraged to continue our education and then we don't have promotional opportunities. i started in the healed health -- in the health department as a health worker and i'm a program coordinator and striving to get another promotion. i just think that you really nao ed to look at the hiring

practices, the retention, working closely with h.r. and have people that are impacted by these decisions at the i believe that. we're asking for solutions but solutions can't be made in a closed door when there is only five people in the room who have no understanding of how this impacts people's lives. [applause] we all go home. we're suffer. we're scared. a lot of people suffer from anxiety and are afraid to come to work or just, you know, don't know what to expect. so i take heed to -- i want you to take heed to their concerns and see all of us as human beings and really reach out the your compassionate and your response to these issues. >> good afternoon, commissioners. i'm karen pearce. i'm a native san franciscan, a homeowner. i've been working at the department of public health for 20 years now. i previously wo f