By Lee Romney, Staff Writer The Los Angeles Times November 9, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO - Cementing its reputation as a progressive haven and further irking business groups, San Francisco has become the first city in the country to mandate paid sick leave for all employees.
The ballot measure, which hardly generated discussion here and passed with a resounding 61% of the vote, comes at a time when businesses are reeling from a city plan that requires employers to contribute to universal healthcare and a citywide minimum wage boost phased in over the last few years.
A similar wage boost failed to gain enough votes in Santa Cruz on Tuesday. Labor leaders and the grass-roots group of young service and restaurant workers who pushed San Francisco's sick leave measure celebrated the win Wednesday as another forward-thinking, trailblazing milestone.
"This is the first place in the country that's won paid sick days. It's a basic worker right and human right. We are just ecstatic," said Sonya Mehta, an organizer with Young Workers United, which prevailed after spending just $15,000 on the campaign. The victory carried a whiff of prideful vindication, given Republicans' recent derision of soon-to-be House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her "San Francisco values."
"Those of us in San Francisco had to snicker a little bit," said Tim Paulson, executive director of the San Francisco Labor Council, AFL-CIO. "We love the fact that San Francisco values for civil rights and worker rights have the opportunity to be expanded throughout the country - as opposed to the corporate rights that our current administration thinks should lead the country."
Business groups reacted with anger and resignation. Steve Falk, president of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, called the measure "outrageous" - largely because current law enabled just four of the 11 county supervisors to place it on the ballot without a public airing.
Kevin Westlye, executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Assn., said that the passage was not surprising but that it added to a burdensome climate for business and particularly restaurants - labor-intensive, low-margin operations that rely on entry-level workers.
"San Francisco voters have a history of voting social values, especially if the business community - which is kind of an impersonal term for a lot of their neighborhood businesses - has to write the check," said a grim Westlye, whose organization opted not to mount what it saw as a futile formal opposition. Business groups in the city will probably explore any "legal grounds of possibly challenging this," Westlye added.
The measure requires that employers provide one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked by any employee, full-time, part-time or temporary. Businesses with 10 or fewer employees would offer a maximum of five days per year per worker, while larger employers max out at nine days per year. The time can be used to care for a sick child, partner or other loved one.
Young Workers United hit the streets with broad support from organizations that included a physicians union, a parent group, a Latino workers group, a Chinese progressive organization and other union locals. Their targets included low-wage workers of small employers as well as of large corporations, including Safeway, Cheesecake Factory and Macy's, who do not receive paid sick leave.
"It's a really reasonable measure that's going to protect workers who need to take a few hours off to take care of themselves or their kids," Mehta said. "It's ridiculous to think that a worker coming in with a fever to make your burrito is going to do the kind of quality work that you want."
But small-business owners slammed the requirement - set to take effect in 90 days - as prohibitive, particularly in a city that claims to love its small neighborhood merchants.
Nicholas Van-Beek employs 10 people - seven of them full-time - at his four Walter Adams Custom Framing stores. His full-timers now get three paid sick days as well as medical and dental coverage and paid vacation, while part-timers do not. He estimated that his cost of complying with the new requirement will be $27,000 per year. Van-Beek already called his labor lawyer to see if he might be able to get around the measure by calling all paid time off "personal days" and letting workers draw sick leave from that pool.
"If I can't beat it, I will cut down on health insurance," he said. "I will have to do something. I can't afford to spend $27,000 a year because our supervisors are a bunch of socialists."
Ric Lopez, president of the Glen Park Merchants Assn. and owner of Modernpast, a furniture and art gallery, said the city's workforce ultimately may suffer because employers forced to pay nine sick days for each employee aren't likely to hire more.
Lopez plans to open a little sushi restaurant soon in the merchant hub known as Glen Park Village. "It's a very tough time to open up a business," he said. "This is not making it any easier."
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-sanfran9nov09,1,2492747.story
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