Several organizations and two council members are pushing for paid sick leave to be mandatory for workers in Dallas.
Business owners and community organizers are helping gather almost 65,000 signatures for the petition so the ordinance can be on the ballot this fall.
City council members Philip Kingston and Adam Medrano have joined organizations such as the Texas Organizing Project and the Texas Freedom Network to support the campaign.
According to the Institute of Women Research and Policy, one in three workers in Texas do not have access to paid sick leave.
Workers affected are usually in the retail, construction, hospitality, and food and service industries. When one of these workers gets sick, they are faced with a hard dilemma.
“Many of them have to decide if they should stay home sick and risk losing their job and not getting rent paid, or they could go to work sick. That wouldn’t be good for the employees or business production,” said Lee Daugherty who is a bar owner in Dallas.
The petition has to be submitted by June 11.
