May Day airport protest at SFO leads to 25 arrests

Connie Chan, Rafael Mandelman and state Sen. Josh Becker were among 25 people arrested at San Francisco International Airport after May Day protesters blocked the International Terminal departures drop-off area and refused police orders to disperse. The arrests turned a labor rally into a political spectacle at one of the Bay Area’s busiest transit hubs, with former Supervisor Jane Kim also identified among those taken into custody.

Hundreds of airport service workers had gathered inside the terminal to push for higher pay and better conditions, then moved into the roadway as the demonstration escalated. San Francisco International Airport said it temporarily closed the International Terminal departures roadway before lanes reopened later in the day. SEIU United Service Workers West Vice President Sanjay Garla said all 25 arrests were planned acts of civil disobedience, underscoring that the confrontation was designed to draw attention to the workers’ demands.

The union says about 2,000 passenger service workers are part of the SFO campaign, with negotiations spread across five different employers. Those workers clean cabins, move baggage, assist passengers with mobility needs and cater flights, jobs that keep the airport functioning but often leave employees struggling with rent, food and transportation in the Bay Area. Their headline demand is a $30-an-hour minimum wage, which they argue is necessary to match the region’s cost of living.

The campaign has been building for months. SEIU-USWW said more than 200 SFO passenger service workers rallied on January 30, then more than 500 members returned on February 26 as contract talks continued. One Bay Area report said the workers had been bargaining for more than a year. Mandelman has now filed a hearing request for the Board of Supervisors’ Government Audit and Oversight Committee for May 7 to discuss the negotiations, bringing the dispute into City Hall as well as the terminal.

The stakes reach beyond wages alone. San Francisco’s Minimum Compensation Ordinance covers most city service contractors and airport tenants, but the city’s public-entity minimum compensation rate remains below the union’s demand, at $23.00 an hour, with planned increases to $25.00 on September 1, 2026, and $25.50 on January 1, 2027, subject to budget approval. The May Day protest at SFO was also part of a broader Bay Area day of action that affected Oakland Airport, tying airport labor, immigrant-worker protections and anti-corporate organizing into one highly visible fight.