Reacts to the new ruling. She joins us live. Plus, Golden Gate Park is in the spotlight from being named one of the best parks in the nation to a new eye opening art installation, theres so much to discuss. But first, a call to raise the minimum wage for all california workers, even those incarcerated. The new bill being introduced in sacramento. Youre watching. Getting answers. Im kristen sze. Thanks for joining us. Fresh off the minimum wage increase for californias fast food workers today, labor activists rallied in sacramento to call for 20 minimum wage for all sectors, not just fast food. They want the legislature to pass a bill introduced by san jose assemblyman ash kalra to create a study group to look into raising the minimum for all, including incarcerated workers. Joining us live now to talk about this is john logan, professor of labor and employment studies at San Francisco state university. John, thank you for coming on the show again. Nice to see you. Glad to be on. All right, so lets talk about this call to raise the state minimum wage for all workers to 20 an hour. First of all, conceptually, do you think that is a good idea . Well, i think it is a good idea because of the number of californians who are currently earning less than 20 an hour and who are living below the official poverty rate. So, i mean, we know that even 20 an hour, which, as you said, is now the official rate for fast food workers in california is not sufficient for a living wage in many parts of the state. And you know, in the last year, of course, weve seen, what was called long hot labor summer with strikes and health care with strikes amongst graduate students, Hotel Workers in hollywood, in Public School systems. And most of these strikes have been related to the skyrocketing cost of living in california, particularly cost of accommodation. But, you know, the cost of living in california , of course, is one of the highest in the nation. And so i think, you know, raising wages to 20 an hour, as we have already done, the fast food workers. The proposal was to raise Health Care Workers wages over five years to 25 an hour. In other states, such as minnesota, that are doing the same for home care workers and others, this is something that would help tremendously with lowering the poverty rate in california, giving people a living wage, and at the moment is taxpayers who have to subsidize the low wages in many cases, that corporations often multibillion dollar corporations, are currently paying, you know, thousands, and, you know, often hundreds of thousands of californians, such as was the case in the fast Food Industry. All right. Just real quickly, i think the current state minimum wage is 16 an hour, right . Correct me if im wrong. So if it goes to 24 more, thats a 20 increase. So imagine getting a 20 raise right now. That is significant for the millions who are making that, but this bill, it wouldnt change the wage. It would create a working group to kind of study the subject. Right, so, you know, its a multitiered approach, but i want to ask you about this part because part of it calls for including incarcerated people to be possibly paid at a rate like everybody else. Explain that and explain to people what is the pay structure for incarcerated workers traditionally and whats the rationale . Yeah. So there are tens of thousands of incarcerated workers in california who do work near. They work as firefighters, they work in manufacturing, producing things like license plates. They work, you know, producing other, manufactured goods for the state, but they get extremely low wages, you know, often ranging from under 0. 10 an hour to about 0. 35 an hour. And he, you know, i mean, its often, called a system like, you know, close to, to slavery because, you know, about 40 of californias incarcerated population work in these jobs. Thats out of about 93, 95,000 workers, and its a similar situation in other parts of the country. And and, you know, it really is, you know, something that should not exist in 2024. And for the if i, if i could just cut in because the argument ive heard from the other side. Right. Those who support that kind of pay structure will point to, well, they have their room and board paid for, or theyre paying society back or theyre getting job skills, if you will, training almost so that they could take those, for example, firefighting skills and get a full time job when they leave prison. What do you make of those arguments . Well, i mean, i think it is a good thing that people receive, training that will make them employable after they leave. And of course, you know, this is whats going to happen to san quentin. That its going to be turned into a training and rehabilitation center. I absolutely do support that. But i think, you know, allowing the state or in some states, allowing private employers to employ, incarcerate people at sort of pennies per hour at, you know, people earning 3 to 5 a day, you know, fighting fires, manufacturing goods for california is just not something that we should allow. And, you know, raising the wage, you know, theres a, percentage of the wage that they they earn already goes to restitution. So it would actually help them pay, you know, restitution for crimes being committed that resulted in them being incarcerated. Covid. But but just in general, you know, prison populations should not be used as a sort of like mass system that approaches something like, you know, that is essentially slave labor, right, yes. People should be taught skills, but they should also be earning money, when theyre doing these jobs. John, might i ask you about just in the time that we have left about a minute. I want to touch on the 20 minimum wage, which of course, is now in effect started this month for fast Food Industry and i want to ask you, i know its early, but have we seen an impact yet . Specifically, im thinking about some employers who had warned, oh, this could mean layoffs or i have to increase my food prices in order to compensate. Are we seeing any of that . Well, there have been a few cases. I mean, i think its far too early to say. Overall, there have been a few cases, you know, and it was well publicized in cases, for pizza delivery where workers were laid off and replaced by gig workers. Uber eats, doordash, that type of thing in general. I dont think were going to see a huge amount of that. In fact, i think, you know, fast food jobs will continue to prosper. But, you know, even 20 an hour is not really sufficient in large parts of california to, you know, to earn a, a living wage. So, and you know, for the most part, the fast Food Industry is dominated by a few multibillion dollar corporations. Now, because of the franchise system, its often said, oh, you know, these are small employers. Even the franchises are often people who, own dozens of stores and make millions of dollars from owning these franchises. But certainly the structure of the industry, should not have to depend on paying people poverty wages and having taxpayers pick up the bill in terms of food subsidies, medical subsidies and other things. So i think, you know, this will, lift. I mean, were talking about several hundred thousand, fast food workers here. It will lift a lot of people out of poverty, i dont think that it will have a seriously detrimental impact on employment. There will be some cases where people might have their hours cut or, be face layoffs. But, you know, again, you know, its an untenable situation having, you know, an industry that employs over half a million californians, paying people 16, 17 an hour and then having taxpayer was, you know, multimillion dollar industry and then having taxpayers pick up the tab in terms of public assistance. Right. So when they dont have a living wage, Professor John john logan with sf state university, really appreciate you coming on the show. Thank you to be on. Thank you. After the break, disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, now hospitalized days after one of his Rape Convictions was overturned. Well be joined by bay area woman who was assaulted while working for him for her city today undergoing tests given his poor health condition. Hes no longer incarcerated in an upstate new york prison. This after a stunning court ruling on thursday when a state court of appeals vacated weinsteins rape conviction and 23 Year Prison Sentence and ordered a retrial. The reason given jurors heard too much evidence not directly related to his charges, weinstein remains in custody because he was convicted in 2022 of another rape in los angeles and sentenced to 16 years for that. Many of his victims have strong reaction and remember their cases launched the Metoo Movement. Joining us live now is rowena chiu, who says she was assaulted by weinstein when she worked as his assistant. Fresh out of Oxford University in england, rowena now makes her home in the bay area in palo alto. Rowena, welcome. Thanks for joining us. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Like you, rowena, are now a metoo activist. I definitely want to talk about your work and mission after you went through all this. But first, if i might, can i get your reaction to last weeks Appeals Court ruling throwing out the new york conviction . Yes, of course. I mean, for us survivors, its obviously a gut punch. I think that the few women that you spoke of that were able to take the stance stood for the rest of us. So i think i, in common with many other weinstein survivors, felt that although my case could not be tried, it was tried vicariously through these women that took the stand and therefore, in the overturning of their verdict, it obviously affects us. It almost makes us feel like the price for speaking out was too high and that we shouldnt have done it. And the world doesnt believe us. So i think that that, you know, that very visceral reaction that youre hearing from many survivors comes from a very deep place where it has been very difficult in society to have women speak out. Its additionally difficult, personally, for me, for women of color to speak out about Sexual Assault. So in seeing this, it is it does very much feel like a step backwards. Im sorry to hear that, look, i, im sure you feel like you should not cast any doubt on what he did despite this, but i want to ask you about your story. As you said, ashley judd. Rose mcgowan, rosanna arquette, even californias first lady, Jennifer Siebel newsom, so many came out and told their stories. Tell us your story. Yeah, it took place i know, in the you know, you were in your early 20s in 1998. Yes. I mean, before i get on to my story, i should say that it was thrown out on a legal technicality and therefore that doesnt cast any doubt on his guilt in terms of the actual convictions, but a legal technicality about the secondary witnesses. Anyway, we could get on to that. More later, but i will. Of course i do, of course, want to share my story as a local person. So in 1998, when i was 24 years old, i worked as an assistant to Harvey Weinstein. I had barely started his office, as you said, it was one of my first few jobs post university, one of the roles was to travel with harvey, along with another assistant, Zelda Perkins. And so it was that Zelda Perkins and i traveled with him as his executive assistants to the venice film festival. The assault itself took place in a hotel room at venice, when i was in the hotel room, as part of my work duties, my work related duties, i was actually there for a Script Development meeting, i, of course, was horrified and traumatized. The following morning, i went to talk to zelda, who immediately stepped forward to defend me, she and i went on a long journey where we reported harvey, both to senior people within the organization at miramax. We then, lawyered up. We attempted to report harvey to the police, and we went into this process of negotiating an extreme and egregious nondisclosure agreement, which actually silenced us for 20 years, until the New York Times were able to break the story in 2017. Can i ask you, you know, about, first of all, the aftermath, right . Was there anybody that wanted to bring out your story, or did you find that the industry had an effect of somewhat silencing your story and others . Maybe that you didnt even know about because it was silenced . Weve been reporting on trump and the whole catch and kill thing, right where you buy someones story, a victim, and then they cant tell it to anyone else, and then you bury it. You dont actually publish it. Did that happen to you . Thats right. Of course. Ronan farrow has written an entire book called catch and kill about the weinstein survivors. And of course, there are many parallels in this case, too. I have to say, we didnt find a Single Person who encouraged us to go forward, whether they were senior people or junior people. Inevitably, everyone thought that harvey was far too powerful, and we had everything to lose and nothing to gain. And even though you didnt speak up because of that nondisclosure agreement, did your career suffer after you left harvey . Absolutely. We were entirely blacklisted. I was never able to work in film again. What made you finally come forward . Because i know other women were speaking out. Metoo was starting, and i know you wanted to add your voice, but im sure in your mind the calculus was, i could suffer for this. Actually, i absolutely did not want to raise my voice, jodi kantor came to my doorstep in 2017. I was absolutely adamant that i did not want to speak out, my story was included in the original New York Times investigations because Zelda Perkins was brave enough to speak out, and i was only ever mentioned as the anonymous assistant who harvey assaulted in a hotel room in venice. So my story featured in the original investigation. My name did not. I felt very strongly that as a mother of Young Children and also as someone of asian heritage, i thought it would be incredibly difficult for me to speak out, for various cultural, societal, personal reasons. I felt that the Metoo Movement already had Gwyneth Paltrow and ashley judd and women that were much more used to being in the spotlight and perhaps much more eloquent than i was. And so i didnt see any benefit to myself to speaking out at all. It actually took me two years to decide to do so, and many different steps along the way, but i still think its an incredibly difficult thing for anyone to do. Yeah. I mean, theres the cultural aspect there is the career aspect, and of course, the victim blaming and shaming. Right. Like, what were you doing in the hotel room . Didnt you know that wasnt work . But of course, he kind of combined work with all his other stuff. Right . So and thats well documented. And but i want to ask you, you went from not wanting to talk about it to now putting it in your hashtag or, you know, in your bio that youre a Harvey Weinstein survivor. Talk about that transformation and what stepping into that role is now enabling you to do and what youre doing with that platform. Yeah, i think that i very much did not know the power of my own story. And really, when i first spoke out about it on the nbc today show, i was completely terrified. And i also thought that as an ordinary citizen, this would be my 15 minutes of fame. And now when i look back on it, i think its extraordinary that i thought that might be the only time id ever speak about the story, shortly after i went on the nbc today show, i wrote an op ed entitled Harvey Weinstein told me he liked chinese girls that was published in the New York Times and really caused an upsurge of, particularly Asian American Sexual Assault survivors who came forward to say that hardly anyone from their culture, their heritage, was willing to speak out about such issues. And so i became a bit of a rallying point, really, for our work with Asian American Sexual Assault survivors. I work with a number of nonprofits that represent these groups that are essentially voiceless, and so youre right, it did transform me into someone that became an activist and advocate. I speak in many different forums these days workplaces, schools, universities, even churches and synagogues. And i do think its important that a person of color is willing to come forward and represent this particular topic, because i think this topic is very taboo in mainstream society. But then in particularly in, culturally sensitive societies where there hasnt been a history, as it were, of speaking about these matters. I think women often feel oppressed and silenced as part of that culture and that society. And so its important to have role models. Its important to have representation in this area. Well, as you continue to speak out, rowena, we cannot wait to see what you do next. Rowena chiu, palo alto resident. Harvey weinstein, survivor and now metoo activist. Thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you. Still ahead, a sobering new art installation in San Franciscos Golden Gate Park. Its meant to explore the two operations or to open options. Lets make it options for our future. When we invest or ignore nature. Details its built to command attention. Its not just a comfortable interior. Its a quiet refuge. Theyre not just headlights. They light the way forward. The fully electric audi q8 etron. Get exceptional offers at your local audi dealer. Nice to be reminded. And that reminder came recently with the announcement that Golden Gate Park was named one of the best parks in the nation. It came in at number two, according to a new poll from usa today, and when you visit Golden Gate Park, its easy to see why. In fact, you might think it should be number one. Joining us live now to talk about what makes Golden Gate Park so wonderful is daniel montes, the San Francisco rec and Park Communications manager. Hey, daniel. Hi, kristen. Thanks so much for having me. Absolutely. I mean, its an exciting occasion, right . Congratulations on this nationwide ranking. Im sure youve had many, but this is another look. What do you suppose are the factors . What makes it so that people are voting for. Yep. Golden gate park right up there amongst my favorites. Theres so much to choose from. I mean, Japanese Tea Garden uh conservatory of flowers, botanical garden, the aids memorial grove, golden tennis facility, theres just so much to do in Golden Gate Park, and, oh, you cant forget the bison. Thats pretty unique. Exactly. We have so many unique, quirky, interesting things, and i think that also unique applies to this new art installation that you guys just put along the lakes paths and rec area. The installation im talking about, we have video of it. It draws attention to the importance of investing in climate based solutions. Very eye catchy. Tell us about these signs. Yeah. So this was a collaboration between us and also the nature conservancy. And the exploratorium. And, its really kind of, something to draw attention to, basically the environment, it features 12 different California Historical markers from the future, highlighting importance of nature based climate solutions. So its really, educational, but also we want to inspire people to take care of the planet, basically. Yeah. The side were looking at is the inspiration. Like, if we did the right things right, these good things would happen by this time. This time. But then the opposite side is interesting, has messages highlighting what could happen if we dont take action. So i encourage folks to go out there and check it out, but i want to mention, okay, another amazing thing you guys just marked four years since jfk drive the promenade went car free. Whats been the impact on this car free jfk . Yeah, thats really exciting. I mean, four years in, its really changed the landscape of the park. You know, its just a 1. 5 mile stretch of open road thats available for walking, biking, running, but again, it really has changed the environment of the park. On any given day, youll see people strolling. Walking, you know, riding their bikes, we get a lot of people telling us that their children learn to ride their bike on the promenade, which is really exciting. And theres also, art installations, pianos, theres so much happening. Theres so much life, and this weekend, skate rentals began for both inline and roller skates. That is so cool. Talk to us about skating place. Thats at sixth avenue. I think. Right . Yeah. Correct. Its on the jfk promenade at sixth avenue. And, skating place is a really special place, you can always find someone skating there. Hardaway and now whats really exciting is if you just happen to walk by and you didnt bring a pair of skates, if you show up on saturday and sunday, you can rent skates now. Oh my gosh, it is so much fun. Definitely got to check it out. So now that the weather is warming up and youve got the skating place and other cool stuff, what are some of the other events coming up, maybe a quick peek at the summer . Yeah, lets see. So much happening, we have refurbished pianos which are out there now, also, we have an interactive outdoor play happening right now called adventures with alice. Yeah, its an outdoor, interactive play. Yeah. Correct it takes, it takes viewers on a one mile jaunt through the park, and, its, kind of a mashup between alice in wonderland and also through the looking glass. And so it features all kinds of, familiar characters like the mad hatter and alice, so its a lot of fun and, if you want to buy tickets, its, running through june 2nd, and you can go to we players. Org all right. Daniel montez, thanks for coming on and sharing all the wonderful doings at Golden Gate Park. Thank you. Al judges song contest. Thats followed by jeopardy and wheel of fortune starting at seven. Then its back to American Idol at eight, followed by the interrogation tapes, a special edition of 2020 at ten. And of course, stay tuned for abc seven news at 11 00. So special programing here. Thank you so much for watching. Getting answers. Well be here every weekday at 3 00, answering questions with experts from around the bay area. World news tonight with david muir is next, and ill see you back here at 4 00. Byebye tonight, breaking news as we come on the air. Multiple officers shot and killed near charlotte. The images coming in now. At least eight officers shot. Behave learned tonight three u. S. Marshals have opinion killed. A suspect barricading himself in a home. S. W. A. T. Teams on the scene. A Police Sniper in a bedroom
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