CPA In The News
Thursday, May 2, 2013
by: Judith Scherr
Inter Press Service News Agency
May 2nd, 2013
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - More than 1,000 people marched under the brilliant San Francisco sun on May Day. Their signs, such as “Work in America/Live in America/Dream in America. Immigration reform now,” their songs, chants and speeches wove together the twin themes of the day: worker justice and immigrant justice.
Alphonso Pines of the hotel and restaurant workers union Unite HERE put it this way, speaking to the crowd before the march: “We’re marching for our families; we’re marching to honour the sweat and the contributions of each and every working person. We’re marching to honour the beauty of each and every family – queer or straight, immigrant or born...
Monday, December 3, 2012
by California Department of Industrial Relations
Sacramento Bee
December 3rd, 2012
SAN FRANCISCO - California Labor Commissioner Julie A. Su has reached a $339,716 settlement involving unpaid overtime and minimum wages for employees at Xue's Restaurant, Inc. and Liu's Restaurant, Inc. dba Tsing Tao Restaurant in San Francisco.
This settlement follows the issuance of citations in June and August for unpaid minimum wage,overtime and failure to provide itemized payroll statements including deductions for 28 workers at Tsing Tao's Clement Street and Fillmore Street locations.
The Department of Industrial Relations' (DIR) Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, also known as the Labor Commissioner's Office, helped the...
Saturday, November 24, 2012
submitted by Steve Rhodes
Demotix
November 24th, 2012
SAN LEANDRO
San Francisco Supervisor Eric Mar joins members of the Chinese Progressive Association at a protest at a San Leandro Walmart on Black Friday.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
by Jen Chien
KALW Radio
November 7th, 2012
SAN FRANCISCO - The race for supervisor in San Francisco’s District 1, which includes the Richmond district, was a hotly contested one, pitting two Chinese-American candidates with different support bases against each other. Eric Mar, the progressive incumbent, defeated a challenge from David Lee, whose campaign was marked by massive third party spending and was widely seen to be the candidate of downtown business and landlord interests.
Eric Mar’s win last night was a victory for Chinese Americans but also for progressives in the City. His campaign was backed by a diverse coalition, including Chinese, Latino, and Filipino community groups, labor unions, educators and tenants rights...
Monday, October 1, 2012
by Yael Chanoff
SF Bay Guardian
10/1/2012
SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco's wage theft task force, approved in June, had its first meeting today.
San Francisco workers and activists, with legendary labor organizer Dolores Huerta, at City Hall GUARDIAN PHOTO BY YAEL CHANOFF
The wage theft task force formed to strengthen the city response to workers exploited by wage theft, which can include non-payment of the minimum wage or of hours worked, non-payment of overtime, illegal deductions from worker paychecks, or failure to pay a worker at all.
The group is made up of workers' rights advocates and government leaders at labor law enforcement agencies, as well as workers and employers. They plan to meet monthly and to...
Monday, October 1, 2012
Kristin Hanes
KGO 810 News
October 1st, 2012
Listen to the radio segment here.
One of the pioneers of the movement for farm workers rights made an appearance at San Francisco City Hall today to applaud the city's new wage theft taskforce. Kristin Hanes reports activists see this as a huge step forward for a very vulnerable part of the population.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
New American Media
September 27th, 2012
SAN FRANCISCO -- Among the embattled City College of San Francisco’s most vocal supporters is the Chinese community, which recently celebrated the opening of a Chinatown-North Beach campus. But with a looming budget crisis and warnings of a loss of accreditation, the $138 million campus’s salability is frequently mentioned as one way the college could save itself. The Chinese community’s stake in the survival of City College has steadily increased in recent years, with the most recent available statistics showing overall Asian-Pacific Islander enrollment at 42 percent of the college’s student population. But necessary reforms to address financial concerns could include closing some...
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
SF Bay Guardian
July 27th, 2012
SAN FRANCISCO -
2012 Local Heroes
Alex Tom and Shaw San Liu
Alex Tom and Shaw San Liu — the executive director and lead organizer for the Chinese Progressive Association, which celebrates its 40th anniversary on Aug. 4 — have laid the groundwork for a progressive resurgence in San Francisco by organizing Chinese immigrants and actively building close and mutually supportive relationships with working-class allies throughout the city.
The two have been involved in just about every recent effort to counter the pro-corporate neoliberalism that has come to dominate City Hall these days. They have seized space with Occupy San Francisco and they have supported labor unions and helped to create the...
Friday, July 13, 2012
By Stephanie Chan and Andy Kuang
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Stephanie Chan and Andy Kuang are leaders of Youth MOJO, a youth program of the Chinese Progressive Association. The program works on social issues affecting working-class families. Read the report at: www.cpasf.org/creatinghealthycommunities/healthcare
In an ideal world, hospitals would accept all patients, regardless of insurance type. They would provide translation for the many languages spoken in San Francisco. Hospitals would stay open as long as the community needed and would serve everyone who walked through its doors. Obviously, we don't live in an ideal world.
Last week, information was leaked showing that California Pacific Medical Center is not as committed...
Thursday, July 5, 2012
7/5/12
KPFA 94.1 FM
RJ Lozada
Listen to the podcast here.
This week on APEX Express, we talk about politicizing Desi youth, fighting back against WalMart in L.A.’s Chinatown, and learning from The Art of Hustle. Tune in!
We talk with Nevin Gandhi-Rao with Bay Area Solidarity Summer or BASS. They are gearing up for this year’s youth camp that teaches South Asian youth leadership skills and social justice issues affecting the Desi community.
RJ Lozada reports from Los Angeles where thousands of community members are mounting a campaign against WalMart, which plans to open a store in the city’s historic Chinatown.
We hear the first in a series of podcasts we’ll be sharing from Anthem Salgado called, The Art of Hustle, where art meets...
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Creating a Wage Theft Task Force
Sean Au
KTSF Channel 26
May 17, 2012
[Video clip in Chinese]
In a survey conducted last year, the Chinese Progressive Association learned that one in two San Francisco Chinatown restaurant workers are paid less than the City’s minimum wage. Some supervisors are suggesting the creation of a Wage Theft Task Force to address wage theft.
Since San Francisco imposed its own minimum wage in 2004, the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement has helped some 2,800 workers get back about $4.8 million in lost wages owed to them. The Chinese Progressive Association also found out that there are many workers who have not been given vacation and sick pay.
The Public Safety Committee of the Board of...
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
by Tiffany Louie
AsianWeek
March 6th, 2012
SAN FRANCISCO - About 30 community members from the Chinese Progressive Association (CPA) were honored on Saturday in San Francisco’s Chinatown in celebration of International Women’s Day. CPA celebrated the courage and role model of three generations of women leaders – women who organized CPA’s womens’ group back in the 1980s, now grandmothers and greatgrandmothers; women who are standing up against wage theft, organizing for worker rights, and supporting SRO families for fair housing conditions; and young women who are organizing their peers in high school around healthcare and educational justice.
Attendees enjoyed locally prepared dim sum and hot tea and discussed gender equity...
