The Progressive Workers Alliance of San Francisco won a huge victory in August 2011 when the Board of Supervisors passed the Wage Theft Prevention Ordinance. This is a great success for raising awareness around wage theft of undocumented and low-wage workers, and for the City to hold employers accountable.
This victory was achieved through the power of grassroots organizing and workers’ speaking out against injustices.
The Chinese Progressive Association had worked with Design Action to produce two important communications pieces in order to work towards this legislation: the Check, Please report on the poor conditions of restaurant workers in SF’s Chinatown, and the End Wage Theft brochure for the Campaign to End Wage Theft.
CPA had developed a communications strategy for the distribution of these materials and to get media attention for their work, all of which contributed to their success. It was important for them to professionally lay out the content taken from an extensive research project, so that the publications could command attention and be taken seriously. They distributed the report to key decision-makers and media, as well as to low-wage Chinese workers and allied grassroots organizations.
CPA held a press conference for the release of the Check, Please report, which received media attention from over a dozen media outlets, including local TV, radio and newspaper stories. Here is just one piece of coverage (out of the many they received): ABC News.
The End Wage Theft brochure was used as an organizing tool for outreach to members of the Progressive Workers Alliance, low-wage workers and the general public. It included a list of demands and a pledge form to support the campaign.
Says Shaw San Liu, organizer at CPA:
“Having powerful, professional design that could visually carry our message, attract attention and keep people reading, has been absolutely a critical component of CPA’s recent media success and has reached a new level of visibility as part of Progressive Workers Alliance. We owe it to our base and leaders who work so hard to organize around these issues, to figure out the strongest vehicles to carry their message and make impact and not just slap together materials that won’t get read. Thank u Design Action!”
Read about the Wage Theft Prevention Ordinance success here: http://www.sfbg.com/2011/08/09/shelter-storm?page=0,0
and http://blogs.sfweekly.com/foodie/2011/08/new_legislation_cracks_down_on.php