Pam Tau Lee

Future Ancestors: A Ceremony of Memory asks Pam Tau Lee ' What do you want to pass on to future generations by the impression you leave behind.'

Pam Tau Lee (born 1948) is an American labor and environmental justice advocate. She is fourth generation Chinese-American and was born in 1948 in Northern California. Her work specifically focusses on issues faced by Asian-American restaurant and hotel workers in San Francisco's Chinatown. She worked for 20 years at University of California Berkeley's Center for Occupational and Environmental Health and has 10 years of experience as an organizer with Hotel Employees Restaurant Employees (HERE) Union Local 2. Currently, she uses her career in advocacy to educate young people on issues of environmental justice and community advocacy.

Pam Tau Lee is a co-founder of numerous organizations including the Chinese Progressive Association, the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), and the Just Transition Alliance where she is currently a board member. Through these organizations, she has built a platform for community improvement, centering Asian-American workers.

Career

In 1972, Pam Tau Lee joined the San Francisco I Wor Kuen (IWK). This organization was inspired by the Black Panther Party and composed of Asian American youths in opposition to economic exploitation, racism, and misogyny. She became active in the anti-imperialist struggle condemning American imperialism in the Asian continent and the U.S.'s role in the Vietnam War.

San Francisco's International Hotel

During the early 1900’s Filipino and Chinese immigrants began settling in areas around San Francisco’s Chinatown. By the 1950’s, this community had developed an area known as “Manilatown”, which included the International Hotel. The hotel was home to many elderly Filipino and Chinese immigrants. In 1968, the hotel was sold, resulting in many residents facing eviction. This issue initiated a grass-roots anti-eviction movement in which Pam Tau Lee was a participant. This movement, however, was ultimately unsuccessful and the residents were evicted in 1977, and the International Hotel was demolished in 1979.

First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit

In 1991, while working in environmental health and safety for UC Berkeley School of Public Health, Pam was invited to attend the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in Washington D.C. The summit focussed on environmental racism, specifically pertaining to issues of landfills, toxins, and other pollution that interferes with people's livelihood. Here, she submitted a paper to the summit's policy group focussing on the workplace rights of people of color regarding occupational health and safety. On the fourth and final day of the summit, the Preamble and Principles of Environmental Justice was pronounced which marks the launch of the Environmental Justice movement in the U.S. and across the globe. This summit and its declaration were in part responsible for influencing President Bill Clinton's Executive Order 12898 - Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations, which mandated federal agencies to consider how their policies would impact environmental and human health of minority and low-income populations.

Oil, Chemical Atomic Workers' Union

In the late 1990's, while working as a workplace and environmental health and safety trainer for APEN, Pam was invited to work on a project in collaboration with the Oil, Chemical Atomic Workers' Union (OCAW) and Just Transition to draft public policy for occupational safety and environmental stewardship. She worked to connect OCAW members with leading environmental justice groups such as the Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice, Southwest Public Workers Union, Indigenous Environmental Network, and the Southern Organizing Project. This project spanned across Alabama, Arizona, and Oklahoma and allowed those affected by environmental hazards to be directly involved in the drafting of legislation.

Chinese Progressive Association

Pam Tau Lee's work with the Chinese Progressive Association (CPA) addressed working conditions for Chinese immigrants employed in the restaurant industry in San Francisco. In 2007, the CPA formed a partnership with UC Berkeley School of Public Health and it's Labor Occupational Health Program. Together they engaged in a research project and campaign aimed at addressing workplace conditions for Chinese immigrants. This was a participatory research project involving focus groups and surveys of over 400 Chinatown restaurant workers from over 100 of the restaurants in the area. The research identified work-related issues such as wage theft, injuries, and violations of minimum wage. These findings allowed the CPA to empower workers to advocate for themselves in areas of exploitation, most notably back pay. Organized workers were able to apply pressure on their employers and engage in meetings that, for some, ultimately resulted in being paid back wages in which they were owed. Many of these workers took on more active roles in the community, partnering with the CPA on campaigns for political elections and participating in demonstrations promoting the rights of immigrant workers.

As a result of this research, the CPA partnered with the San Francisco Progressive Workers Alliance (PWA) to introduce the San Francisco Wage Theft Protection Ordinance. This ordinance aimed to improve the processing times regarding claims of labor violation and increasing employer accountability in the face of said violations, such as imposing penalties. The ordinance also called for increased education for employees of their workplace rights and enhanced protections against retaliation from their employer for claims of labor violations. This ordinance was passed into law by then Mayor Ed Lee in 2011.