Meeting Information

Full Commission

Immigrant Rights Commission

Minutes of Meeting on October 1, 2001

The Immigrant Rights Commission (IRC) meeting was held on Monday, October 1, 2001 at San Francisco City Hall in Room 400, at 5:00 P.M.

Members Present Penelope Chronis, Emi Gusukuma, Isabel Huie, Diana Lau, Phu Nguyen, Richard Ow, Vera Haile, Houston Zheng, Medea Benjamin, Joseph Nwadibia, and Marlene Tran & Marcos Gutierrez. Commissioner Benjamin & Tran arrived at 5:23pm. Commissioner Tran left at 6:30pm. Commissioner Gutierrez left at 6:50 pm.

Others Present Dang Pham, Executive Director of the IRC

Winny Loi, Commission Secretary

William Chan, Deputy City Attorney

Introduction: Moment of Silent in remembrance of the victims of the September 11, 2001 national tragedy.

Presentation Katie Quan, Center for Labor Resources of UC Berkeley gave a presentation regarding the situation concerning LeeMAH Electronic factory and Wins of California. She informed the Commission that roughly 200 workers from the Wins of California and 200 workers from LeeMAH Electronics factory were terminated.

Wins of California is the largest apparel manufacturer in San Francisco. The owners are Jimmy Quan & Anna Wong. Wins had issued paychecks to its workers, but informed them not to cash them. The U.S. Department of Labor has been investigating this situation. Based of the Department of Labor’s investigation, a federal court has issued an injunction against Wins of California prohibiting Wins from continuing to operate until Wins paid its workers their back wages. They will not allow them to operate until they pay the Department of Labor Lock Box from which the workers could be paid eventually. The California Department of Labor Standards enforcement has received claims for back wages from almost all the workers. However, the State’s authority over Wins is limited because Wins has file for bankruptcy protection.

Steven Hu, a former worker for LeeMAH Electronics, addressed the Commission regarding the circumstances surrounding the termination of himself and his fellow co-workers from LeeMah Electronics. On September 7, 2001, Mr. Hu and his fellow co-workers went to work as usual. During the afternoon, the management told the workers that there was not enough work and that they would be laid off immediately. The workers were given a document that had 2 parts. One part states that the workers voluntary quit and the second part states that they are laid off & terminated. The workers asked for the management for an explanation of the document. The workers were told that if they did not sign the document, that they would not get their paycheck. They got into a heated argument and the police were called. According to Ms. Quan, the employees must be given 60 days notice or 60 day’s severance pay when terminated. The workers at LeeMah receive neither adequate notice or compensation.

Wesley Wang, another former employee for LeeMAH Electronics, says there were conflicts between worker and management. He made several suggestion that would assist immigrant workers in employment related issues. First, employee’s rights should be published in Chinese. Second, government agency that provides assistance to work should hire more bilingual staff to assist monolingual workers and money should be set aside by the agency to publish information on labor laws. For example, the government should make a videotape regarding worker’s rights which can be shown once a year to the workers.

Katie Quan made the following suggestions that the Commission. First, the Commission should send a letter to Bing Hong Mah, of LeeMah, to urge him to negotiate in good faith with the workers for their severance package. Second, Bing Hong Mah is going to received an award this coming Saturday for being a good employer. She suggested that the Commission should inform the Asian Business League that Mr. Mah is involved in a labor dispute and may have violated Federal labor laws. Third, notify the Mayor & Board of Supervisors about the LeeMAH case and asked them to facilitate a meeting between the workers and Bing Hong Mah.

Public Comment: Jenny Zheng commented on the treatment experienced by Falun Gong practitioners. Sherry Zhang acted as the translator for Ms. Zheng. Jenny is a U.S citizen & a resident of San Francisco. She enjoys & practices Falun Gong, but she states that the freedom is being limited & affected by the Chinese Government. Before, she had arthritis & headaches constantly, but after practicing Falun Gong her symptoms were gone. When she and her daughter went back to China to visit a friend, another Falun Gong practitioner, she stated that they were arrested by the police. When she asked the police why they were being arrested, he told her that it is a crime when more than 3 practitioners meeting in one place. She stated that she was detained for 2 days, with no food or water. She also stated that she was forced to leave China immediately & was told not to come back to China for 10 years.

Samuel Zhang addressed the Commission regarding Falun Gong. He said that he was passing out flyers in Portsmouth Square about Falun Gong. A gentleman took the flyer and threw it on the floor. He told Samuel that Falun Gong is a cult. Samuel stated that his group could not get a permit for Portsmouth Square.

Introduction: Chair Lau welcomed & introduced the newly appointed Commissioner Marcos Gutierrez.

Chair Lau informed the Commission that Commissioner Tran was nominated for Vision Award Winner 2001 for 30 years of community work. Commissioner Tran indicated that she is donating the $1000 award to the Visitation Valley Centers.

Annie Brown could not make it to this months meeting to talk about the Hate crime issues. She will attend the November meeting. The commissioners asked if she could discuss and explain the break down of the following categories for anti-immigrant, ethnic & racial.

Resolution: Commissioner Chronis introduced the resolution regarding the backlash against Arab and Muslim American in the wake of the September 11^th tragedy. Commission Haile made a motion to approve the resolution and was seconded by Commissioner Huie. The Commission unanimously adopted the resolution.

Future Activity: Chair Lau suggested to the Commission that the Commission should work with the Human Rights Commission, since there are issues that concern both commissions.

Commissioner Benjamin has been helping the community regarding the hate crimes towards Arab & Muslim. She informed the commission that storefronts have been vandalized & threats have been made towards owners. She suggested that the Islamic society might be invited to address the Commission at the next meeting regarding retaliation against these two communities in the wake of September 11.

The Commissioners discuss about Immigrant Pride Day. Chair Lau, Commissioners Benjamin & Nwadibia will speak on behalf of the Commission at that day. The Commissioners discussed about making a banner for the Commission for that and other events. They would like the banner to be in 3 languages, English Chinese & Spanish. They also suggested adding the phrase "San Francisco is a Hate Free Zone" to the banner.

Approval of

Minutes: Commissioners Haile made a motion to approve minutes for the September meeting, which was seconded by Commissioner Huie. Commissioner Huie asked to amend the minutes, to correct the spelling of Katie Quan’s name.

The Commission unanimously approved the minutes as amended.

Director’s Report: Director Pham discuss possible districts for the neighborhood meetings. He suggested that the next neighborhood meeting should be held in the Richmond district in December. Commissioner Ow made a motion to have the neighborhood meetings in Richmond, which was seconded by Commissioner Chronis. The Commission unanimously approved the Director’s suggestion for the December meeting and requested staff to find a site for the meeting. Director Pham also informed the Commissioners that he has received 13 summary plans from the Tier 1 Departments on the compliance with the Equal Access to Service Ordinance.

Chair’s Report: Due to time constraints, Chair Lau will postpone the debriefing of the Immigrant Rights Commission Anniversary Celebration. She asked the committees to report back to the Commission of their activities for the previous month in during the next Commission meeting. She also asked Dang report back to the Commission in writing all the meetings and other activities he participates during month prior to each Commission meeting and to discuss briefly on important issues that would be of concern to the Commission.

Next Meeting: The next Commission meeting will be held in City Hall, on November 4, 2001 at 5:00 p.m.

Adjournment: The Commission meeting was adjourned at 7:00 p.m.