A research partnership of representatives from labor, academia, and public health enabled unionized San Francisco hotel workers to achieve important policy changes in workplace health and safety. Known as the "Housekeeping Study," the project took sixteen months to complete. A unique aspect of the project was that it utilized participatory action research methods, involving workers themselves as full participants in the study. A core group of 25 hotel room cleaners was involved in each phase of the project. The study developed health data which enabled room cleaners and their union to formulate and justify a contract proposal calling for a significant reduction in housekeeping workloads. The employer association agreed to a contract which reduced the maximum required room assignment from 15 rooms to 14 rooms per day in 14 San Francisco hotels. By lowering the maximum work assignment, these workers set a new standard which can potentially protect the health of room cleaners across the country. The project can serve as a model for worker and union participation in academic research, as well as for the application of research to improving working conditions, particularly for low-wage immigrant workers.

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is increasingly being used to better understand and improve the health of diverse communities. A key strength of this research orientation is its adaptability to community contexts and characteristics. To date, however, few studies explicitly discuss adaptations made to CBPR principles and processes in response to community context and partners' needs. Using data from our CBPR study, the San Francisco Chinatown Restaurant Worker Health and Safety Project, and drawing from literature on immigrant political incorporation, we examine the links between the contexts of the Chinese immigrant worker community, adaptations made by our collaborative, and study outcomes. In particular, we explore the concepts of contexts of reception and participatory starting points, which may be especially relevant for partnerships with immigrant communities whose members have historically had lower rates of civic and political participation in the US. We discuss contextual findings such as worker partner accounts of language barriers, economic and social marginalization, and civic skills and participation, as well as subsequent adaptations made by the partnership. We also describe the relative effectiveness of these adaptations in yielding equitable participation and building partners' capacity. We conclude by sharing lessons learned and their implications for CBPR and partnerships with immigrant communities more broadly.

CBPR holds promise for both studying worker health and safety among immigrant Chinese restaurant workers and developing culturally appropriate research tools. A new observational checklist also has potential for restaurant-level data collection on worker health and safety conditions.

Wage theft, or nonpayment of wages to which workers are legally entitled, is a major contributor to low income, which in turn has adverse health effects. We describe a participatory research study of wage theft among immigrant Chinatown restaurant workers. We conducted surveys of 433 workers, and developed and used a health department observational tool in 106 restaurants. Close to 60% of workers reported 1 or more forms of wage theft (e.g., receiving less than minimum wage [50%], no overtime pay [> 65%], and pay deductions when sick [42%]). Almost two thirds of restaurants lacked required minimum wage law signage. We discuss the dissemination and use of findings to help secure and enforce a wage theft ordinance, along with implications for practice.