Mpls. Workers Demand Paid Sick Leave Ahead Of Council Meeting

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Minneapolis City Council is expected to talk Thursday about a paid sick time proposal for businesses in the city.

The proposal would require employers in the city to provide 48 hours a year of paid leave to almost all employees. Employers with three or fewer workers would be exempt.

On Tuesday, nurses and other healthcare workers demonstrated outside Abbott Northwestern Hospital, demanding that city leaders pass a paid sick time policy.

The protesters say 42 percent of workers in Minneapolis do not get sick time.

Christina Cortez, a woman who has worked at the McDonald's inside Abbott for almost 10 years, does not have paid sick time.

While she was sick on Tuesday, Stephanie Gasca read a statement from her during the demonstration.

"We should not have to choose between our health and taking care of our families," Cortez wrote in the statement. "I hope that Minneapolis will do the right thing for all families and pass paid sick time, because it's long overdue and we deserve it."

For the past four months, the Workplace Partnership Group has been hosting listening sessions on the paid sick leave issue.

They've come up with a recommendation that the healthcare workers hope will be used as basis for a city ordinance.