Thursday, November 06, 2003

Restaurants feel pain of wage law San Francisco Chronicle http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/11/06/BAG7H2RGVM1.DTL&;type=printable Pia Sarkar, Chronicle Staff Writer November 6, 2003 Already mired in workers' compensation costs and skyrocketing health care, San Francisco small businesses worry whether they can handle another blow delivered by the new minimum wage increase. Restaurant owners have been especially vocal in their opposition to the raises since most of their service staff will see their base pay go up to $8. 50 an hour from $6.75 an hour, on top of the tips they already receive.... Proposition L, initiated by mayoral candidate and Board of Supervisors President Matt Gonzalez and approved by voters on Tuesday, is expected to benefit about 55,700 workers, 38,000 of whom live in San Francisco. According to a study released by MICHAEL REICH, AN ECONOMICS PROFESSOR AT UC BERKELEY, the changes in wages will not dramatically affect small businesses. About 13.6 percent of businesses with 100 employees or fewer will see an increase greater than 5 percent in operating costs. Another study, conducted by ALEX LANTSBERG, A RESEARCHER AT THE UC BERKELEY LABOR CENTER, showed that minimum wage workers would probably spend the extra cash at local businesses, pumping back about $45 million to those businesses.... Other stories on this topic appeared in the Contra Costa Times http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/content_syndication/local_news/7195967.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp The Guardian (UK) http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-3354081,00.html Sacramento Bee http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/politics/story/1044976p-7345641c.html Source: UC Berkeley in the News 1:12:05 PM    comment []

Minimum wage jump welcomed Increase can mean a lot to those earning a little San Francisco Chronicle http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/11/06/BAG7H2RGVO1.DTL&;type=printable Cicero A. Estrella, Anastasia Hendrix, Chronicle Staff Writers November 6, 2003 Aiza Baclit and Marvin Llaga take home about $1,500 every month as workers at Jollibee Restaurant, known as the "Filipino McDonald's," in the South of Market District of San Francisco. Of that combined net pay, $300 is earmarked to assist family members in the Philippines. The immigrant couple, neither of whom have the right to vote, were anxious bystanders Wednesday as they awaited the result of Proposition L. News of its passage, which will raise San Francisco's minimum wage from $6.75 to $8. 50, deeply moved the couple and their co-workers, many of whom also remit parts of their paycheck to the Philippines.... About 38,000 San Franciscans will see their paychecks increase as a result of the passage of Proposition L, according to an analysis by the CENTER FOR LABOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION AT UC BERKELEY. Another 17,700 people who live in the Bay Area and work in the city will also start earning more per hour in 2004 than they are today.... The vast majority of minimum wage earners in the Bay Area are African American, Asian, Latino and other immigrants who will now have between $1,700 and $2,400 more to spend each year on food, clothing and medicine, according to the UC Berkeley analysis....   Source: UC Berkeley in the News 1:10:50 PM    comment []

Rural Migration News Department of Agfricultural and Resource Economics UC Davis http://migration.ucdavis.edu/rmn/index.php A quarterly newsletter that summarizes and analyzes the most important migration-related issues affecting immigrant farm workers in California and the United States during the preceding quarter. Topics are grouped by category: Rural America, Farm Workers, Immigration, Other, and Resources. It is available in print and electronic formats. The current issue (October, 2003) includes articles such as Data, Mobility, Census - "NASS. USDA reported that there were 1.3 million hired workers employed on US farms the week of July 6-12, 2003, including 75 percent directly hired..." and H-2A, H-2B, Braceros - "DHS reported that 15,600 H-2A workers were admitted in FY02, down sharply from 27,700 in FY01, while the number of H-2B worker admissions jumped to ..." 1:01:13 PM    comment []

Program on Workplace Health and Safety For Bi-Lingual (Spanish-English) Union Trainers Co-Sponsored by the Labor Safety and Health Training Project of the George Meany Center for Labor Studies National Labor College.  February 8 – 13, 2004 10:00 a.m. Sunday – 4:00 p.m. Friday George Meany Center for Labor Studies, Silver Spring, Maryland. A six-day “train the trainer” program on workplace health and safety using a participatory popular education approach. The program will be conducted primarily in English; Spanish language materials will be provided. Participants will learn the fundamentals of workplace health and safety. They will also learn how to teach or facilitate classes on these subjects for other union members. Participants must be sponsored by their union or organization and must agree to facilitate safety and health training in their union or organization. The union or organization must make a commitment to support the participant in doing health and safety training for its members. Contact Sharon Simon at the George Meany Center at 301- 431-5414, or at ssimon@georgemeany.org . 9:56:49 AM    comment []

Copyright 2003 Lincoln Cushing