Salinas workers use May Day to look for help

Thousands of demonstrators, including immigrant advocates, union leaders and workers, hit the streets in Los Angeles, Oakland and Washington DC. A rally also being held right here in Salinas.

Today is May Day, which many celebrate as the day to celebrate worker’s rights, and many citizens here are trying to make the most of it.

Several members of SEIU 521, a local union, held a rally Tuesday in front of Salinas City Hall to bring attention to worker’s rights and the help they need. They consist of city workers around Monterey County, in this case, mostly all from the city of Salinas. They say there’s just not enough help for the amount of issues that Salinas has, and they planned to let the city council know during Tuesday’s council meeting.

“In the past, they’ve passed so many measures and asked the residents to pay so many taxes, and still, they haven’t put enough effort into getting our services back to a good manageable amount to try and give the city residents the best maintenance we can provide for them,” said SEIU 521 Co-President Victor Baez.

As mentioned, members from the union and city workers presented in front of Tuesday’s city council meeting in hopes of getting more help. That includes jobs like firefighters, maintenance crews, and other jobs through the city.

We asked what would constitute a successful day to the group and was told that just grabbing the attention of the city council would be big. That way, conversations about getting more help could come in the near future.