On Wednesday, a group of about 40 people marched in solidarity with Sarina Santos, a woman who was fired from her job at the Philadelphia International Airport after speaking out about living wage issues.

The interfaith crowd — including priests, a rabbi, and an imam — marched from the Basilica Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul down to Dilworth Park. They chanted Hail Mary's and sang praise songs prayers. They bore signs in English and Spanish that read "We stand with Sarina" ("Estamos juntos con Sarina").

Santos, 30, had been earning $7.75 an hour as a baggage handler with PrimeFlight, a subcontractor with US Airways and the target of airport worker strikes last year over wages and benefits. PrimeFlight reportedly fired Santos for having too many absences.

POWER members point out that Santos was dismissed just five days after attending a high-profile function where she spoke out against the airport’s minimum wage pay scale. Santos was one of many workers who met with Cardinal Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga of Honduras, a close advisor to Pope Francis, to share her story about the hardships of survival on minimum wage.

“Sarina shared her story about trying to organize her fellow workers, and a few days later she was fired,” said Bishop Dwayne Royster, the executive director of POWER. “We’re out here praying for her to get her job back, but we also want PrimeFlight to treat their employees correctly and pay the $12 minimum per hour plus full benefits.”

It wasn’t the first time Santos has spoken out, either. She testified before City Council last November prior to the airport worker strikes. She has also appeared in many of the POWER groups videos that speak out on a fair wage.

“Subcontractors at the airport strip us of our dignity and our respect,” Santos said, speaking through tears in front of City Hall.

She was accompanied by her four children, aged 6 to 14, who insisted on taking off of school to be with their mother at the march. During her speech, she noted that her house’s joint family income isn’t enough to support the family, and that all she asks for is her job back.

The number of absences Santos took is unclear, but she maintains that she took no more than the other employees. More importantly, she says, she was never given paid sick days.

Councilwomen Maria Quiñones-Sánchez and Blondell Reynolds Brown came to show their support as well.

“The irony of this is that we just voted on paid sick leave,” Sánchez said. “If it had been in place before now, it would have prevented this.”

POWER has been trying to reach PrimeFlight with their plea for Santos, but they say the subcontractor has been “generally unresponsive.”

PrimeFlight did not return AL DÍA’s phone calls in time for this article.