即刻发布： 2024 年 9 月 17 日星期二
媒体联系方式：
亚洲法律核心小组，media@asianlawcaucus.org
Jess Cheng，华人进步协会，media-requests@cpasf.org，(415) 562-8416
旧金山工人、参事和工人中心提议为被剥夺合法工资的工人提供救济
工人正义基金投资于使旧金山得以运转的人们
旧金山--在生活成本不断上涨、越来越多的人入不敷出的情况下，旧金山工人、参事、当地工人中心和社区团体，包括湾区基本工人联盟（BAEWA）、亚裔法律核心小组（Asian Law Caucus）和工作法律援助（Legal Aid atWork），宣布了一项全市范围的提议、旧金山工人、参事、当地工人中心和社区团体，包括湾区基本工人联盟 (BAEWA)、亚裔法律核心小组 (Asian Law Caucus)、工作法律援助 (Legal Aid at Work)，宣布了一项全市性提案，即工人正义基金 (Worker Justice Fund)，为被剥夺正当工资的工人提供救济。
旧金山在保护工薪家庭方面走在全国前列，包括带薪育儿假、每小时 18.67 美元的最低工资以及防止工资盗窃的保护措施。市劳动标准执法办公室为工人追讨欠薪的成功率高达 97%。
根据参事希拉里-罗宁（Hillary Ronen）倡导的拟议解决方案，旧金山这座亿万富翁和财富 500 强企业云集的城市，可以在实现基本但尚未兑现的承诺方面取得进展：工人应获得应得的全额工资。在今天于市政厅前举行的集会上，旧金山人强调，要想拥有一个健康、公平的城市，我们必须对得起那些工资最少的人。
“The Worker Justice Fund means that San Francisco has our backs. It means that when the employer fails or bails, it shouldn’t be the worker who has to swallow the loss,” said Huang Qiming, who moved to SF from China in 2013 and was a dishwasher at Paramount Superstar Restaurant. He has been waiting for wages he and his former co-workers are owed since the beginning of 2023 and would benefit from the proposed relief. “My colleagues and I worked very hard. Like any worker, we expected to be paid what we were owed and treated fairly. Unfortunately, our employer started withholding our pay and by the time the restaurant closed, they owed me more than $10,000 and I’m still waiting. I urge the Board of Supervisors to pass the Worker Justice Fund, so that San Francisco can ensure that working families like mine can still put food on the table, care for our children, and stay in our neighborhoods.”
Research shows that wage theft is still a major issue for working people in California and the Bay Area, especially in the service industry and other low-wage fields. A recent Rutgers University report found that almost 14% of San Francisco-area workers were paid below the minimum wage in 2014-2023.
“I was a former Burger King worker who, like many of my peers, was told we would get a settlement payment from wages owed. Many of our families during the wait for justice had accrued debt and had very little money to cover expenses,’ said former Burger King employee Adriana Rendon, an organizer with Trabajadores Unidos Workers United (TUWU) which is a member of the Bay Area Essential Workers Alliance. “What sounded like a victory to get some of what was owed to us after many years of trying to get restitution became a small payout extended over 10 years that would never cover the debt or financial losses our families had to absorb. It’s a disgrace that those who are most affected economically, the workers, are the ones left to front the financial bill of employers. Our families have suffered enough. We should not have to wait another 7 years with no guarantee that our wages will be finally paid.”
“Over the years, we have helped restaurant workers, construction workers, janitorial workers, and caregivers in San Francisco win judgments and findings upholding their right to their full wages,” said Mei Mei Chan, a community advocate for workers’ rights with the Asian Law Caucus. “At times, however, workers are unable to actually collect the money they’re owed because their employer has gone under or disappeared, but their rent and medical bills are still due. The Worker Justice Fund is an important step we can take right now to affirm San Francisco is committed to being a city where working people are protected and not left holding the bag.”
“Across America, low-wage workers are usually the most exploited,” said San Francisco Supervisor Hillary Ronen, the lead sponsor of the legislation. “Greedy employers target and hire these workers, who are usually low-income immigrants and people of color, for wage theft precisely because low-wage workers have less power in the workplace. Today, with this ordinance, San Francisco is stepping up and letting workers across our City know that we have their back. We are doing everything in our power to ensure our workers receive their rightful and hard-earned wages, and I am proud that as a City we are once again leading on workers’ rights, especially for our most vulnerable workers.”
The Worker Justice Fund would be administered by the City to ensure restitution to workers who have received a City determination or judgment that the employer violated San Francisco’s labor laws, yet the employer is unable to pay what they owe for one reason or another. Relief for denied wages will be covered by penalties collected by the City for labor law violations, as well as funds collected by OLSE that have remained unclaimed by owed workers for years.
“As an attorney representing some of San Francisco’s most vulnerable workers, I’ve seen courageous workers speak up and put their time and energy into fighting for fairness.” said Alexx Campbell, an attorney at Legal Aid at Work. “For workers who achieve a decision from the City confirming that their rights were violated by their employer, we need to make sure they can be made whole. The Worker Justice Fund is a creative solution aimed at making our values of fairness and equity for all workers a reality.”
The Bay Area Essential Workers Alliance is a coalition of six worker centers representing immigrant working people and working people of color in the Bay Area: Chinese Progressive Association, Filipino Advocates for Justice, Filipino Community Center, Mission Action, Mujeres Unidas y Activas, and Trabajadores Unidos Workers United.
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