Board of Supes Meeting to Support SF Carpenters

Dear friends and allies,

I am writing on behalf of nearly fifty San Francisco carpenters,
African-American and Latino, who are organizing and fighting their corporate
employer for the exploitation and racism taking place at construction sites
in the Bayview / Hunters Point. PLEASE SUPPORT THEM AND ATTEND A SF BOARD
OF SUPERVISORS HEARING ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1 PM, SF CITY HALL, 2ND
FLOOR CONFERENCE ROOM.

Since last year, these union carpenters and community members of the Bay
View / Hunter's Point neighborhood have had complaints against AIMCO, the
property owner, as well as the various construction contractors for illegal,
racist, and disturbing employment practices. For example, the managers,
executives, and foremen of the companies embarked upon a racist campaign to
divide the African-American carpenters from the Latino carpenters. Among
other disturbing practices, the managers and foremen held separate events
for the two communities of workers, at which they told each group they were
"at war" with one another and where they bad mouthed each group referring to
the African-American workers as "lazy" and the Latino workers as "trying to
steal jobs." In addition, managers and foremen at AIMCO forced both the
African-American and Latinos to do shoddy work because "niggers" were going
to live in the apartment buildings. Some of the workers were terminated
when they complained about these comments and practices.

In addition to the racist practices and comments, several foremen extorted
many of the Latino carpenters out of a large portion of their wages. The
foreman told these Latino workers that they would be fired if they did not
give a cut of their salaries to the foremen. When many of the
African-American workers found out about this crime, they began to circulate
a petition protesting the abuse and were fired in retaliation for defending
their Latino brothers.

AIMCO receives tax exempt, state bond money and has been allowed to engage
in this type of illegal behavior!

THE WORKERS AND THE NEIGHBORHOOD SAY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! AIMCO HAS GOT TO GO!

Many of the carpenters have filed a lawsuit against AIMCO and the
construction contractors, and are organizing a campaign to hold them
accountable.

This hearing on February 28th is extremely important because the City of San
Francisco holds oversight authority over this public-funded project.

WHAT: SF BOARD OF SUPERVISORS HEARING TO SUPPORT SAN FRANCISCO CARPENTERS
WHEN: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1 PM.
WHERE: SF CITY HALL, 2ND FLOOR CONFERENCE ROOM.

For more information, please contact Renee Saucedo at renee [at] lrcl.org or
(415) 553-3404.