On May 23, the California Court of Appeal reaffirmed the massive victory that SEIU 1021 and our other San Francisco labor partners won through the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) in 2023. With a simple two-sentence denial of the City and County of San Francisco’s appeal, the court reaffirmed city workers’ right to strike.

In August 2023, PERB ruled that provisions in the San Francisco City Charter prohibiting city workers from striking, requiring termination of striking city workers, and stripping workers rehired after striking of their seniority violated workers’ rights.

“Once again, justice has prevailed on this issue, and now the courts as well as PERB have officially recognized that the City and County of San Francisco cannot prohibit strikes or retaliate against workers who participate in them,” said SEIU 1021 President Theresa Rutherford, who has worked for the City for over 20 years. “As the City is considering cutting vital public services in the face of the projected budget deficit, we hope that the City will not waste any more of its valuable resources appealing this case to the state supreme court.”