From Asian Law Caucus
December 30, 2008
The Asian Law Caucus (ALC) and the South Asian Bar Association of Northern California (SABA) have joined forces on a campaign launched by the ALC to save immigrant jobs and businesses at San Francisco International Airport.
The San Francisco Airport Commission is considering an administrative plan to terminate the existing 11 existing door-to-door service permits and to authorize issuance of requests for proposals (RFPs) for 4 on-demand shared-ride service agreements for service between San Francisco International Airport and the Five Bay Area Counties.
Existing door-to-door service permit holders transport thousands of travelers to and from SFO every day. The proposal before the Airport Commission is to have 2 companies serving all of San Francisco and 2 companies servicing the South and East Bay.
Approval of the proposal will result in the loss of over 300 mostly immigrant jobs.
Small, locally owned companies that do not fit within the requirements of the proposal will have to shut down. Their drivers, mechanics, and administrative staff, many of them South Asian, will be out of work.
“ALC is already concerned about harmful labor issues alleged against bigger businesses in this market,” said Veena Dubal, Asian Law Caucus staff attorney. “Eliminating the small, locally-owned companies, as the current proposal will surely do, will only serve to reward the bigger businesses for engaging in cut-throat business practices that demean their employees while maximizing their own profits.”
Veena Dubal
ALC and SABA are further concerned about the negative consequences to the thousands of customers who use shared-ride services everyday if the Airport Commission adopts the proposed administrative plan.
“The loss of these small, locally-owned companies will negatively affect customer service and result in less competitive pricing for customers traveling to and from SFO,” said Khurshid Khoja, President of the South Asian Bar Association. “Curtailing competition in this presently vibrant market will only serve to harm the interests of the consumer.”
The ALC has published a position paper related to the situation. It can be viewed online at: http://savesfoshuttles.wordpress.com
The ALC and SABA have come together to urge the community to send e-mails to Mayor Gavin Newsom and the Airport Commissioners urging the Airport Commissioners to vote against the proposed administrative plan to squeeze out many of the immigrant-owned and immigrant-employing shared-van services at SFO.
Details on how to join and help the campaign can be found at:
http://savesfoshuttles.wordpress.com/how-to-help/
Added Dubal, “Given that we are in the middle of a recession of historic proportion, this plan, if executed, will be devastating for these 300 workers and their families. We urge the Airport Commission to revise their current plan.”
ASIAN LAW CAUCUS (ALC) – The mission of the Asian Law Caucus is to promote, advance, and represent the legal and civil rights of the Asian and Pacific Islander communities. Recognizing that social, economic, political and racial inequalities continue to exist in the United States, the Asian Law Caucus is committed to the pursuit of equality and justice for all sectors of our society with a specific focus directed toward addressing the needs of low-income and Asian and Pacific Islanders. Visit: asianlawcaucus.org.
SOUTH ASAIN BAR ASSOCIATION (SABA) – With over 500 members, the South Asian Bar Association of Northern California is the largest regional South Asian Bar Association in North America. As the voice of the Northern California South Asian legal community, SABA advocates for the South Asian community, supports those who value diversity in the legal profession and promotes programs that assist lawyers in their work. For more information about SABA visit: southasianbar.org.
The Hunger Site
December 31, 2008 at 9:48 am
Once upon a time air travel was not only a romantic and glamorous activity but also an expression of freedom.
Traveling today is hardly that.
It is often a harrowing ordeal. You throw away half your toiletries to expedite a search. You take off your shoes, of course. (Silly isn’t it, especially now that we know they are just as easy to throw as to explode.)
Ah! You’ve cleared all those hurdles– and now you are halfway through the jetway, and two heavily armed policeman jostle past.
Will you be arrested at the last moment– because you are on somebody’s “list”?
Try banishing the thought, as much as you want to– or the idea that the two policemen who are “just doing their job” are just as game for playing a sick joke.
The state knows best– and you’re reminded of it all the while you are craving a cigarette.
I’ve worked in two airports in the past (including SFO)– delighted to be surrounded by service-minded immigrants striving to make a go in the US.
I recall the first, where elderly Filipinas crushed soda cans in the custodial closets during their breaks to augment their meager incomes– until the airport realized it could as easily cut them out of the picture and augment its (by instituting a sanctioned recycling program).
While working at SFO, I had the pleasure of working across from Allan Fong and his wife who are now retired from the TCBY business they ran for years. As she and her husband seldom could leave their business, Mrs. Fong delighted herself and thousands of visitors by folding exquisite miniture origami which she displayed at the front of their yogurt stand.
What a different world the memory of them working there conjures for me– a world which more easily rewarded honesty, thrift and hard work– and expressions of individuality.
Seven days a week the two would open early and close very late.
Before BART went to the airport– I often shared the grueling bus trip with them from the airport to the city– about halfway– as they lived much further out than I– in the Sunset? I doubt they ever got more than five hours sleep.
I don’t know how they did it without complaint day in and day out for years. I understand they put their kids through school– and to see them today– one wonders if they really know what to do with themselves. But when I saw them they always appeared satisfied and happy (if not a little exhausted) whether working or retired.
What a different world! Not a perfect world– but imagine a government that understands that it exists for the people– not the other way around.
Our government has lost its way.
Rather than look for imaginative ways to deny people a chance in life– former mayor Art Agnos had found an imaginative way to reward Fong who deserved it,
More:
http://tinyurl.com/747w59
http://tinyurl.com/8qdssp