According to reporting from the San Francisco Standard, the Mayor's Office sent out layoff notices to 127 city workers across 18 departments this morning, including the Department of Public Health and the Human Services Agency.
The mayor said he intends to eliminate 500 positions across the city in total. There will be a second round of layoffs at the end of May or in early June.
In a statement the mayor’s office called the layoffs, “a painful but necessary continuation of the work we’ve been doing.”
San Francisco is facing a $877 million budget deficit. Lurie wants to cut nearly $400 million in annual spending this year.
Bianca Polovina is the president of IFPTE Local 21, which represents city workers. They say the city could solve the budget deficit without cutting jobs:
“Our solution, Proposition D the overpaid CEO act, which will be on the June ballot, is a fair solution in the long-term, and then in the short term reserves have been set aside in our local budget for this exact moment. ”
The Overpaid CEO Act would progressively tax large corporations whose top executives earn more than 100 times the average salary of their workers.
Lurie has publicly opposed Proposition D. He claims it could drive businesses out of the city.
