Supervisor Connie Chan rolled out a two-part proposal in Japantown last Friday that takes direct aim at one of San Francisco’s most stubborn problems: longtime mom-and-pop shops getting priced out of their own neighborhoods. Her plan would let small businesses band together into commercial tenant unions to negotiate leases and would create a new Workers’ Opportunity to Purchase Act that gives employees advance notice and first rights to buy a business when an owner decides to sell.
What Chan Is Proposing
As reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, the commercial tenants union measure would require property owners to recognize unions of small-business tenants when multiple shops share the same landlord. It would also steer city resources, including legal support, to those tenant groups during lease talks. The Workers’ Opportunity to Purchase Act (WOPA) would require owners who plan to sell to give employees early notice and provide accurate financial records so workers can evaluate cooperative ownership, line up financing and decide whether they can realistically buy the business.
How It Would Work
According to KQED, the commercial tenants union idea would essentially formalize the kind of group bargaining that corridors like Japantown already used during the pandemic, when merchants negotiated lower rents to avoid shuttering. Under WOPA, workers would receive a right of first offer and a right of first refusal, creating a defined window for them to organize, secure loans or form a cooperative before a sale to an outside buyer can move ahead. Chan plans to formally introduce both measures to the Board of Supervisors in September, KQED reports.
Origins And Backers
Advocates, including the Sustainable Economies Law Center, helped draft WOPA and argue that it builds on San Francisco’s existing Community Opportunity to Purchase Act by creating a more practical path for worker cooperatives, according to the Sustainable Economies Law Center. Union organizers and shop stewards from businesses such as Green Apple Books joined Chan at the announcement, saying that early notice and transparent financials are what make worker buyouts remotely possible. Co-op attorney Paola Eisner, who worked on the measure, has said that having accurate financial information is crucial if workers are going to obtain financing and actually pull off a takeover.
What’s Next And The Pushback
Chan said she intends to move the package to the Board of Supervisors after the August recess, with an eye on filing in September. Labor groups are already lining up behind the idea. San Francisco Labor Council executive director Kim Tavaglione told reporters the measures could help workers gain economic stability while keeping neighborhood fixtures alive instead of being replaced. The San Francisco Chronicle also points out that a related proposal from Chan was voted down by supervisors last November over worries about extra red tape, a concern that she and her allies say they tried to address in these new drafts.
