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. ☁️
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.
“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
“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
