Rafael Mandelman, who is President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and is a San Francisco Bay Times columnist, was among the local elected officials who were arrested on May 1, 2026, at a May Day protest at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO). The other officials who were arrested included San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, former Supervisor Jane Kim, and State Senator Josh Becker. They and numerous others, calling for settlement of a longstanding contract dispute involving airport service workers, briefly shut down SFO’s departure-level roadway at the international terminal.
“I have been arrested before,” President Mandelman told the San Francisco Chronicle. “I’ve been arrested with the hotel workers, for marriage equality, and I’ve been arrested for the airport workers. These folks have been trying to get a fair contract for a year, and I wanted to be supportive on this May Day.”
Supervisor Jackie Fielder, who is currently on a leave of absence, also attended the protest at SFO but left before the arrests began. All of those arrested were released shortly thereafter.
Bolstered by hundreds of unionized airport service workers organized by SEIU-USWW, the protestors demanded that these workers receive, in part, higher wages, fully funded affordable healthcare, better working conditions, and a $30/hour minimum wage. The management involved in this case is not the airport itself but private contractors like Unifi Aviation Services (baggage and cabin cleaning) and Alstrom (AirTrain). SFO, however, is technically a department of the City and County of San Francisco and is managed by the San Francisco Airport Commission.
Just a month ago, the city under Mayor Lurie’s leadership cut 127 jobs as part of a larger plan to reduce a close to $1 billion deficit. Those job losses did not directly impact SFO—they were made in the Department of Public Health, the San Francisco Police Department, the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, and the Human Services Agency—but hundreds of other jobs may be cut in the months ahead.
Labor unions have accused the administration of using DOGE-style (Department of Government Efficiency) tactics, referring to the federal initiative previously directed by business magnate Elon Musk to cut spending. Musk has been named the wealthiest person in the world since 2025. In the U.S., the wealth divide in recent weeks has hit its widest gap in over three decades, such that the top 1% holds 31.7% of all household wealth, while the bottom 50% holds only 2.5%.
This is playing out in elections, with candidates in local, state, and federal races raising record-breaking amounts of money that make it ever more challenging for grassroots campaigns to succeed. In the California governor’s race, for example, Tom Steyer has raised over $122,682,754, according to state filings. Another candidate, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, is also at the high multi-million fundraising level, having pulled in at least $12,735,289 as of this writing.
From the SFO and other May Day protests to the recent No Kings marches, tension continues to grow between the haves and have nots while inflation continues to rise across the U.S. driven largely by surging energy costs. This, in turn, is further impacting the already challenged ability for many to pay for basic healthcare. The next wave of nationwide rallies is therefore expected to center around elevating health as a governing priority. This issue of the San Francisco Bay Times further delves into that newly emerging campaign spearheaded by activist and Bay Times founding contributor Cleve Jones: Seven Days in June.
Fight for Basic Rights
Published on May 7, 2026
Recent Comments