FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
CONTACT: Michelle Lim, (415) 349-3487, michelle@jwjsf.org
WHEN: Tuesday, July 29, 2014 from noon – 1:00 p.m.
WHAT: Press Conference prior to the introduction of Supervisors Eric Mar and David Chiu’s Retail Workers Bill of Rights Legislation at the Board of Supervisor’s Meeting
WHO: Supervisor Eric Mar, San Francisco Board of Supervisor; Supervisor David Chiu, San Francisco Board of Supervisors; Michelle Lim, Jobs with Justice San Francisco; Tsedeye Gebreselassie, National Employment Law Project; Olga Miranda, San Francisco Labor Council and SEIU Local 87; Samantha Adame, Young Workers United; Panel of Current and Former Workers from Formula Retail Establishments
WHERE: San Francisco City Hall, Room 278
San Francisco, Calif. – As the national conversation about low wage workers and income inequality continues to escalate, a coalition of labor, community and public policy groups in the Bay Area are coming together to tackle a new issue facing low wage workers: discriminatory, erratic scheduling practices, particularly in the retail sector.
On Tuesday, the broad-based coalition, led by Jobs With Justice, will team up with Supervisors Eric Mar David Chiu to introduce the Retail Workers Bill of Rights, aimed at strengthening protections for retail workers held hostage by on-call scheduling, diminished hours and discriminatory treatment by employers on the basis of their employment status. The legislation is designed to hold the city’s largest retailers accountable to creating better quality jobs with all San Franciscans.
“Our city has already made huge strides to improve wages and protect working people,” notes Supervisor Mar. “But the workplace is changing, and a changing workplace requires better, stronger regulations to protecting workers. Too many of our friends and neighbors aren’t just living paycheck-to-paycheck, they’re living hour-to-hour, desperately trying to cobble together enough hours to put food on their tables and pay their rent. Retail is one of the fastest growing sectors, so it’s critical we do whatever we can to raise the standards of this sector.”
“San Francisco has always led the way when it comes to policies that protect working people,” said Michelle Lim, Jobs with Justice Retail Campaign Organizer. “The Retail Workers Bill of Rights is a commonsense proposal to bring stability to some of our city’s most marginalized workers.”
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