ICYMI: High rise window cleaners are on strike

On the second day of their strike, the cleaners rally in front of the Minnesota State Capitol.

Aug 17, 2021

The people who work in the highest places in the city stood together, grounded below marble angels, making noise and shouting for their leaders to keep them safe. ☁️

a group of people holding picket signs and a banner reading "high rise window cleaners on strike for safety" in purple letters stand in front of the white marble capitol building steps

high rise wells fargo place building in st paul, glass reflects the clear blue sky

The essential workers picketed at Wells Fargo Place in downtown St. Paul before marching to the capitol, where a few workers gave speeches and lawmakers addressed them. Ubaldo Aguilar, a window washer, told me he doesn’t mind taking the risk of working up high, that it gives him an adrenaline rush. But he and his coworkers rely on safety, and want better pay for their dangerous work.

MN state senator Erin Murphy stands in front of the group at the capitol in front of the speaking into a megaphone — “The frontline pay group that I’m a part of is only in existence because so many people in Minnesota understand the sacrifice of frontline workers during the pandemic. I don’t know that the people inside this capitol were willing to say we should set money aside for the frontline workers, ‘we wanna say thank you, we wanna call them heroes…’ but the idea that we were gonna put money into that…to make it right, that took real fight…you’re gonna continue to hear me pushing and fighting.”—Senator Erin Murphy

MN representative Kaela Berg stands next to the group speaking into a megaphone — “I’m a union sister, Association of Flight Attendants, which is a branch of CWA. I ran on a Minnesota that works for working families and I will always fight for workers always defend our right to collectively bargain.”—Representative Kaela Berg

Workday Minnesota @workdaymn

Ubaldo Aguilar has been a window washer and @SEIU26 member for 5 years.“I’d prefer getting paid better since I do dangerous work. They’ve had us work in some buildings with covid. I wish they would appreciate us more for that, too.”

SEIU Local 26 @SEIU26

Striking high rise window cleaners marching to the #mnleg Capitol! #StrikeforSafety #ULPstrike Respect Us Protect Us Pay Us!

The strike began on Monday morning:

Workday Minnesota @workdaymn

This morning high rise window cleaners represented by @SEIU26 began an Unfair Labor Practices (ULP) #strike against Columbia Building Services and Final Touch Commerical Cleaning.

Check out Filiberto Nolasco Gomez’s reporting on these essential workers.

Sending praises up to our real life angels and superheroes in the sky. We are each other’s harvest.

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