Contacts: Jennie Smith-Camejo, jennie.smith-camejo@seiu1021.org, (510) 710-0201
Luke Thibault, lthibault@ifpte21.org, (760) 534-9958

(San Francisco, CA) On April 6, Mayor Lurie’s administration sent layoff notices to over 100 city workers across 18 departments. The administration is eliminating programs that serve the city’s most vulnerable residents, including unhoused youth, seniors, and medically fragile patients at Laguna Honda Hospital. Lurie has promised to go even further in his coming budget.

On Wednesday, hundreds of city workers and community allies will gather outside San Francisco General Hospital to rally against the cuts. City workers are urging support for Prop D, which would generate up to $300 million a year to offset Donald Trump’s H.R. 1 tax cuts, and to use some of the city’s $1.4 billion in reserves to protect public services in the meantime.

What: City workers, supporters rally & march against cuts, closures, and layoffs
Where: SF General Hospital, 1001 Potrero Ave., roundabout
When: Wednesday, April 15, 12 p.m.
Visuals: City workers and allies marching, chanting, with picket signs

All four clinical nurse specialists at Laguna Honda Hospital received layoff notices, including Kathleen MacKerrow, a 19-year veteran of SF Department of Public Health. “Without us, we’re extremely concerned about the future of Laguna Honda. We were integral to ensuring Laguna Honda was recertified for Medicare and Medicaid funding. I’m concerned for the safety of our patients and their quality of care if our positions are eliminated.”

Sophia Padilla is a licensed therapist at the Michael Baxter Larkin Street Clinic, one of the three community clinics slated for closure under the mayor’s cuts. “We serve mainly transient, unhoused youth. If this clinic shuts down, it would be devastating to the community.”

Delia Montiel, a native San Franciscan who works on gun violence reduction for the SF Police Department, got a pink slip after 26 years working for the city. “Losing people like myself can set back the gains we’ve made in reducing violence in the city.”

Lloyd Shand, an Emergency Services Coordinator for the Department of Emergency Management who received a layoff notice, worries about the next emergency. “I don’t want another earthquake to happen and I can’t put my hands on something to help.”

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