01 Sep David McCall – A Worker for Vice President
Many of Cliff Tobey’s friends and neighbors struggled over the years to get their children to doctor’s appointments or pick them up when schools closed early during Minnesota’s brutal winters.
Lacking paid sick and family time, the United Steelworkers (USW) activist recalled, they used vacation days to cover family emergencies even if that meant working themselves to the bone the rest of the year without a real break.
That all changed this year because of Gov. Tim Walz. He signed a paid family leave act and other legislation that’s not only making Minnesota the “best state for workers”—as his administration declares—but showing working people across the country the kind of ally he’d be if elected vice president in November.
“What you see is what you get,” Tobey, the joint efforts and benefits coordinator for USW Locals 1938 and 2660, said of Walz, whose everyman sensibilities continue to fuel growing voter support for his campaign with presidential candidate Kamala Harris. “He’s just a regular guy.”
Walz’s grasp of the challenges facing working families led directly to Minnesota’s groundbreaking “sick and safe time” law, which took effect Jan. 1.
It enables workers to accumulate at least 48 hours a year to use for doctor’s appointments or to pick children up at school, attend a funeral or meet other obligations. Workers also may use the time because of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking.
“This is amazing,” stressed Tobey, one of many taconite miners on Minnesota’s Iron Range who have worked with Walz for years, noting it especially helps families without the benefits and protections of a union contract. “You’ve probably never seen in your life a law written to the worker’s advantage like this one is.”
But Walz went even further to promote work-life balance, healthy families and workers’ well-being.
The same legislation that enacted sick and safe time also created a separate family and medical leave law, to take effect in 2026, providing extended and paid time off to workers facing a serious medical condition, a relative’s long-term illness, a loved one’s military deployment or other pressing needs.