On Thursday, March 27, SEIU 1021 members joined a broad coalition of organizations representing working and poor Californians in a lively protest outside Airbnb headquarters in San Francisco. Waving giant puppets and smashing an enormous cardboard Tesla Cybertruck, public sector union members, federal workers, nurses, immigrant families, and disability rights activists condemned Trump and Musk’s moves to slash essential services, gut Medicaid, and lay off hundreds of thousands of federal workers.

Airbnb founder, DOGE operative, and Tesla board member Joe Gebbia is part of the effort, helping to rob cancer patients of medication, families of food, and people of paychecks for serving our communities.

The impacts are not just at the federal level. Airbnb is currently suing the City of San Francisco for $120 million in what it claims are “overpaid” taxes — even though it received a massive tax break from the passage of Prop M in November 2024. This makes the company a major contributor to the City’s projected $817 million budget deficit. When highly profitable companies like Airbnb, which benefit from San Francisco’s workforce and infrastructure, refuse to pay their fair share, it endangers the critical services SEIU 1021 members provide and city residents rely on.

“Airbnb should be ashamed of themselves. They’re suing San Francisco for $120 million because they don’t believe they should have to pay their fair share of taxes. But we pay ours every day,” said SEIU 1021 San Francisco Regional Vice President Kristin Hardy at the rally. 

“They’re doing this even though they got a huge tax break from Prop M and pay a lower tax rate than many of the other big companies and corporations in San Francisco. They are very profitable. Airbnb contributed directly to the homelessness here in SF as well. Housing is a huge crisis in SF. Yet they don’t think they should have to  pay the homelessness tax the voters voted on. They need to be held accountable.”

Yesterday, March 31, the San Francisco Controller’s Office released its annual “Five-Year Financial Plan,” also known as the “joint report.” The report shows the budget deficit slightly lower than earlier estimates but claims there are still long term structural shortfalls. One of the problems it cites is $415 million — more than half the projected budget deficit — in litigation from businesses seeking to pay less in taxes.

The City has a policy of holding 75% of the amount of pending lawsuits in a litigation fund, putting hundreds of millions of dollars out of the general fund exactly when the city needs those funds to ensure continuity of public services.

Read the response to the joint report from SEIU 1021 and IFPTE Local 21 here.

Read more about the joint report and our response in the San Francisco Standard here and in the San Francisco Chronicle here.

Calling all San Francisco workers and residents! Mark your calendar for April 22 at 12 p.m. for a rally to tell Airbnb to drop its lawsuit. RSVP here!