A political push is on to give Dallas voters the chance to mandate that private employers provide sick leave to every employee they hire.

At Dallas City Hall on Friday, a coalition of labor and faith groups and political activists announced they had filed paperwork with the city to collect signatures for a sick-time ballot measure. The ordinance would be aimed primarily at helping low-wage workers who don't have such benefits given by major employers.

"Today, we declare that every worker in Dallas, every cashier, every janitor has the right to dignity at work and that every worker in Dallas has a right to take care of themselves and their family," said Brianna Brown, deputy director of the Texas Organizing Project.

The effort is part of a larger push for paid sick time in Texas cities. If it passes, the ballot initiative is sure to run into opposition from state lawmakers and others. But it could add a Democratic political issue to the November ballot and circumvent a political fight among City Council members over the issue.

Before voters get a say, the groups have 60 days — the deadline is June 11 — to collect 64,862 signatures of registered voters in Dallas. That's 10 percent of city voters.

Diana Ramirez, deputy political director of Workers Defense Action Fund, said the petition drive will start with neighbors and family members and move on from there.

Among those helping the Texas Organizing Project and the Workers Defense Project were Texas Freedom Network, Planned Parenthood Texas Votes, the Dallas AFL-CIO and City Council members Philip Kingston and Adam Medrano. Shetamia Taylor — who was shot during the July 7, 2016, ambush on Dallas police — also spoke in favor of the ordinance, which she said would've helped her while she was working at a 99-cent store and trying to care for her four sons.

The ordinance would require private employers to allow all employees to accrue at least one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours of work. The ordinance would exclude contractors and interns, but could have a significant effect on day care, restaurant and leisure industries and workers in Dallas.

The ordinance requires businesses with 15 or fewer employees to provide at least six paid sick days a year. Bigger companies, which might already meet the requirements, would need to provide at least eight paid sick days a year. Employees could use the sick time for themselves or to take care of a family member. And retaliation for using the time is forbidden. City Hall would be in charge of enforcing the ordinance.

A similar petition effort, pushed by some of the same groups, is underway in San Antonio. The language would mirror an ordinance passed in February by Austin's City Council. That ordinance is set to take effect Oct. 1.

The effort there was met with a rebuke from state Rep. Paul Workman, R-Austin, The Texas Tribune reported. Workman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

The conservative state Legislature has cast scorn on what they view as liberal local laws, such as anti-discrimination ordinances and plastic-bag bans and fees.

Kingston said he is "always afraid of the Legislature" and its resistance to local control. But he wants a ballot initiative rather than a council vote "for the purpose of demonstrating the popularity of the measure" to lawmakers.

"I think we see Austin devalue the work of city councils by saying that we're runaway — I've been called all sorts of names in Austin," he said. "This will be the demonstration of a really united workforce in Dallas to say this is a basic minimum of employment."

In Dallas, groups such as the Greater Dallas Restaurant Association could also take up the fight against the ordinance. Andy Rittler, the association's executive director, said there could be cogent ways to go about the ordinance, such as carving out exceptions for nuances like employees who trade shifts when sick. The service industry, Rittler said, "is not like other industries." And while he said it's good for people to take care of their health, the added cost could be too much to bear for some restaurants that have low margins.

"All the paid sick leave in the world is not going to matter if there is no job to go to," he said.

But Lee Daugherty, owner of Alexandre's bar in Oak Lawn, showed up in support of the petition. He said at the news conference that he already offers his employees sick leave and called on others to "be bold."

"It's very obvious that something in the industry is broken," Daugherty said. "You shouldn't be fired because you're sick, and you shouldn't be compelled to work because you have the flu."

City Secretary Bilierae Johnson said the city hasn't had any such petition-driven ballot initiatives since 2010, when grocery stores, restaurants and other retailers initiated a successful effort to expand alcohol sales and eliminate "dry" areas in the city. Previous efforts include the referendum on the 2007 Trinity River toll road and the battle over the convention center hotel that led to a May 2009 vote.

Kingston said much of his political work in the 2000s, before he was on the council, was on ballot initiative campaigns and is excited to see one come up again.

Kingston, who is active in local Democratic politics, also jokingly said "there might be" an extra perk: driving Democrats to the polls in November.

"It's just an added benefit. I never thought of that," Kingston said with a laugh.