SF Lurie's PUC Cited By Cal-OSHA For Putting LIUNA 261 Workers Lives In Danger

SF Mayor Lurie's PUC Cited By Cal-OSHA For Putting LIUNA 261 Workers Lives In Danger & Racist Frame-up For Making Health & Safety Complaints
Sunday, August 23, 2026

SAN FRANCISCO HAS CHOSEN TO DEFY THE LAWS AND PUT INNOCENT WORKERS IN HARMS WAY - SAN FRANCISCO WAS A UNION CITY - NO MORE - SFPUC HAS BEEN EXPOSED - THE MANY RESERVOIRS CONTAMINATED - DEFERRED MAINTANENCE.

When the SF Water Department fired the three workers, it was an act of retaliation of the worst kind.

When the workers from Union 261 went to Union 261 for help, they were told the Union could do nothing.

San Francisco was a Union City's - and we all remember Bloody Thursday, July 5, 1934.

The SF Police Department fired on our longshoremen on our waterfront, killing two longshoremen, Nicholas Bordoise and Howard Sperry. Hundreds of others who protested were injured.

It is a sad day when we learn that today's Union favors the greedy and fails to stand by our hardworking Union workers.

SFPUC is a corrupt entity, an Enterprise Department, bringing in millions by charging clients for drinking water.

In recent years, the reservoirs have been contaminated, and San Franciscans have no clue that this is an emergency.

Deferred maintenance and poor leadership are responsible for this nonsense. We have a General Manager who is an attorney, not an engineer; he makes $600,000. He has no clue about the contaminated reservoirs.

At first, the SFPUC Plumbers would clean the reservoirs, a project named "Confined Space." "

Those in charge are trained and certified and must maintain strict standards: working underground, some forty to fifty feet down, the drinking water has to be drained, and the entire area, the size of a football field or two, sanitized using sodium hypochlorite, calcium hypochlorite, and Chlorine dioxide.

SFPUC has deferred maintenance and has failed to train and certify workers to date. The laborers, who for a long time were sent in harm's way - that is, until we brought it to the attention of the SF Water Department managers William Taehan, Frank Jordon - their supervisor Steven Richie - and Steve Richie's boss Dennis Herrera and Ronald Flynn.

We went before the SFPUC and spoke Truth to power.

We went before the SF Inspector General and the SF Controller.

We approached the SF Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and they investigated, and SFPUC was cited on five counts:

http://www.osha.gov

1. No pre-entry training and rescue.

2. No confined Space training and rescue.

3. No testing of the air inside before entry.

4. No stand-by person.

5. No radio communication.

My name is Francisco Da Costa, and when we took up this case, the SFPU Commissioners did not respond to us because they had no clue about the "Confined Space" issues.

The SFPU Commissioner rubber-stamps and will not speak Truth to power. They bow down to folks like Dennis Herrera, who will soon retire - good riddance to bad rubbish.

Steve Richie and the Deputy General Manager, Ronald Fynn, could have done better; they failed and put the innocent in harm's way. As Director of Environmental Justice Advocacy, I led a team of experts; we met for nine months and researched the over twenty areas that the SF Water Department failed to have in place.

A judge will deal with the facts that our team has: empirical data, photographs of the Reservoir, sludge buildup of two or three feet, and other contaminants that we will reveal at the appropriate time.

The three SFPUC workers will be present and state the facts - they will also reveal the retaliation and other atrocities committed - and we have witnesses - so that the Judge can adjudicate - fair play and justice.

City and County
of San Francisco
Public Utilities Commission
Tuesday, October 28, 2025
https://sanfrancisco.granicus.com/player/clip/51038?view_id=22&meta_id=1189832&redirect=true

The Racist Frame-up At Dennis Herrera's SF PUC
https://youtu.be/ci9OWBDLhTo
The Joe King Case & The Utter Corruption & Racism At The SF PUC
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2025/11/07/18881299.php
Corrupt Dennis Hererra Cost SF Taxpayers $2.4 + Million For Illegal Firing Of City Attorney
https://abc7news.com/post/judge-says-sf-must-pay-$24m-in-fees-to-whistleblowers-lawyers/2214788/
https://abc7news.com/post/judge-says-sf-must-pay-$24m-in-fees-to-whistleblowers-lawyers/2214788/
SF Public Utilities Commission linked to three SFPUC employees fired without cause
https://sanfrancisco.granicus.com/player/clip/51038?view_id=192&redirect=true
CCSF Black Workers Want Action On Systemic Racism From SF Mayor Daniel Lurie
https://youtu.be/ZNAJDFenSt0
The Fix Is In: Herrera’s SFPUC
https://westsideobserver.com/news/watchdog.html#jul21a
New audit shows serious contracting problems at the SFPUC
https://48hills.org/2024/12/new-audit-shows-serious-contracting-problems-at-the-sfpuc/
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The allegations about the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission surfaced in a new whistleblower lawsuit.
https://sfstandard.com/2022/08/18/they-must-be-stealing-equipment-goes-missing-as-employees-moonlight-on-city-time-workers-say/
Production Of Labor Video Project
http://www.labormedia.net