Throughout this spring and the month of June, SEIU 1021 members in San Francisco fought back against the mayor’s budget cuts through direct action, advocacy, and at the bargaining table. The budget process ended Thursday, June 25, with the Budget and Appropriations Committee’s approval of the amended budget package for FY 2026-27 and FY 2027-28. 

Despite a massive budget deficit and a mayor who was vocal in advocating for downsizing the city workforce and the services the city provides and funds, by standing united with labor and community groups, we were able to secure important victories that will benefit the entire community as well as SEIU 1021 members.

“The fact that we succeeded not just in saving the job of every single permanent civil service worker who received a layoff notice, but also in preventing new layoffs in the mayor’s FY 26-27 budget, in securing severance pay for temporary workers who were laid off, and in securing crucial funding for nonprofits that will protect SEIU 1021 members’ jobs and wages, is a testament to the power we have when we stand united and speak with one voice,” said SEIU 1021 President Theresa Rutherford. 

“We are one union, and whether you are an eligibility worker at HSA, a custodian at SFO, a biologist at the Cal Academy of Sciences, a case manager at Tenderloin Housing Clinic, or an RN at SF General Hospital, we are in this fight together to protect public services, good union jobs, and fair wages and working conditions for all workers. Our strength comes from our diversity.”

Notably, Mayor Lurie had initially called for 500+ city worker layoffs. By the end of the budget process, all permanent civil service employees who were originally on the layoff list retained their jobs or were reassigned to new positions. It was widely expected that the mayor would call for more layoffs in his budget for the coming fiscal year. But following an aggressive public campaign involving numerous rallies, packed City Hall hearings, and extensive media coverage, the mayor’s new budget contained none.

We were unable to intervene to save jobs for temporary exempt (TEX) members at the City, including those at the Community Ambassador Program, and permanent exempt (PEX) members, because the responsible departments refused to give assurances that any funds designated for them would actually be used to preserve those positions. Nonetheless, through bargaining we were able to secure severance pay equal to one week’s pay for each year of service for all non-permanent civil service positions that were laid off—a significant victory since there is no severance pay guaranteed by the contract for those classifications.

The Board of Supervisors Spending Plan, or the “add-back list,” added another $28.6 million across both fiscal years—significantly less than previous years, and a sign of the state of the City’s finances. Even so, it represents significant victories for our members, labor, and the community, and closely tracks the direct asks we shared with elected officials.

Highlights include an enhanced cost-of-doing-business adjustment for city-funded nonprofits of 2.4% in Year 1 and 3.0% in Year 2. This is complemented by a fully funded Minimum Compensation Ordinance supplement. This means that city-funded nonprofits will be getting more funding which will help us negotiate better contracts for our members at the bargaining table.

This was one of our top priorities and was achieved through direct advocacy to supervisors by impacted members.

Other victories include minimum baseline funding for the City College of San Francisco Free City Program. We worked closely with the People’s Budget Coalition and AFT 2121 to help accomplish this. We were also able to support the Public Defender’s Office in preventing proposed cuts from being implemented and in securing a limited increase in support staffing.

The two youth clinics that were originally slated for closure will not be closing at this time. We received assurances from elected officials that they will continue to closely monitor the issue while we continue working through a negotiated meet and confer process to guarantee continuity of services. While there will be a site closure of South East Mission Geriatric Clinic, services will continue through the clinicians and there will be no contracting out of services. We will have to hold SFDPH accountable to following through on this.

“Here in San Francisco, we won because we stuck together, stood up for what was right, collaborated with our siblings from other unions and with community groups, and made sure the public understood why the work we do matters and what the city would lose without it,” said Rutherford. ”We must stay united as we move into the November midterm elections and beyond. As a labor movement, our power is our people—all of us standing together fighting for our rights as workers and for the communities we belong to and serve. Because when we fight—we win.”