Last week, 600 union members and allies came together to demand that multi-billion-dollar corporations like Airbnb drop their frivolous lawsuits against the city of San Francisco.

SEIU 1021 and its allies are demanding that SF Mayor Daniel Lurie pressure Airbnb and other companies pursuing business tax refunds to withdraw their claims, allowing the city to redirect part of the $311 million reserved for business tax litigation. This would bring back hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to the embattled San Francisco budget.

The rally garnered significant attention, with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi joining the call for Lurie to use his platform to condemn Airbnb’s harmful lawsuit.

cuts, but he should be putting all the pressure on these big corporate companies like Airbnb to pay their fair share of taxes,” SEIU 1021 San Francisco Vice President Kristin Hardy said in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. ”The budget cannot be balanced with cuts to jobs, services, and to crucial elements that keep the communities in this city running.”

“We want to support his vision (…) to address homelessness, to address mental health issues, to make sure that our services are intact,” SEIU 1021 President, Theresa Rutherford, told the Chronicle. “We can’t do that if some of the richest billionaires in our city are saying that they have a problem with paying their taxes.”

This rally is only the first of several actions that concerned citizens can take part in.

Mark your calendars for an emergency rally on Wednesday, May 14, at noon to protect public services. Meet at SF City Hall front steps on Polk St.

Public services are on the chopping block, while wealthy corporations evade their taxes and private contractors waste public funds. 

As Mayor Lurie prepares to release his proposed budget, join San Francisco city workers to say “NO cuts and NO layoffs!”