Just days after Mayor Daniel Lurie announced a hiring slowdown due to a looming budget deficit, union leaders across San Francisco are desperate for answers about austerity measures that they say could make their jobs harder.
Lurie on Thursday announced a pause in city hiring, new contracts, and some programming, though there are caveats and unanswered questions about who and what would be affected. The directive exempts public safety and health-related positions and those that are “historically challenging” to staff, though the mayor’s office has yet to provide specifics on the criteria.
Union officials will gather Wednesday for an emergency meeting to discuss how they intend to respond to the hiring mandates. The San Francisco Labor Council’s Public Employee Committee, which includes roughly two dozen labor groups whose total membership amounts to 30,000 city workers, organized the meeting.
In interviews with The Standard, union leadership expressed frustration with how Lurie rolled out the hiring announcement and what impact it would have on city workers.
“I don’t get the impression they really thought this out,” said David Canham, co-chair of the committee and executive director of Service Employees International Union 1021. “We don’t have answers right now.”
Canham said he is wondering how the changes will affect temporary workers — and how long they will last. “Is the hiring freeze forever?” he asked. “Is it limited? Is it a few years?”
Lurie’s directive comes as the city faces a $867 million budget deficit over the next two years. In her last months as mayor, London Breed instituted cost-cutting measures, including 15% spending reductions for city departments and the suggestion of a hiring freeze.
Much of the city’s budget goes toward salaries and benefits: Of the $15.9 billion budget passed last year, 43% went toward worker compensation.
Sean McGarry, a senior business agent with Carpenters Local 22, said he is concerned for his members. The union represents about 100 locksmiths, carpenters, and patternmakers, who work on city infrastructure that includes cable cars.
“This will only make life this much worse,” said McGarry, who explained that his members are already contending with job vacancies that make their work difficult. But he indicated that his union would play ball with Lurie if it means helping the city.
“We will work with Mayor Lurie to get San Francisco back on track,” McGarry added.
The stance reflects a larger debate among union leadership, according to a person familiar with the labor conversations. The source said there’s a mix of opinions among labor leaders on how to respond to Lurie’s hiring slowdown, with a smaller group wanting to make a political fight right out of the gate and a larger group seeking a more cordial approach. “There’s some fatigue from fighting Room 200,” the person said.
The mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
The brewing discord could reflect an early test of Lurie’s relationship with influential city unions. While Lurie carried some union support during his campaign, influential groups such as SEIU 1021, the firefighters union, and the Building and Construction Trades Council chose to support other candidates.
Jason McDaniel, a San Francisco State University politics professor, said the budget deficit puts Lurie in a difficult position.
McDaniel pointed out that the mayor has promised an overhaul of the city bureaucracy, cleaner streets, and progress on the homelessness crisis — proposals that require immense resources.
“A hiring freeze and budget deficits are perhaps in conflict with that idea,” he said. “It is not like Daniel Lurie campaigned on doing more with less.”