Essential workers, activists plan to protest at Governor's Mansion on Monday By FOX 7 Austin Digital Team Published AUSTIN, Texas - Groups of essential workers and activists including Restaurant Organizing Project, Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee, Austin Mutual Aid, and Texas Amplified Sound Coalition plan to gather at the Governor's Mansion Monday to protest Governor Abbott's order to lift the mask mandate. A press release from Restaurant Organizing Project states: "Governor Abbott has spent the past year fighting against restricting in-door dining, reduced capacity, and the mask mandate. Through executive order, Gov. Abbot is lifting the mask mandate and reinstating full capacity across the state of Texas. Abbott is declaring that the lives of service industry workers (servers, bartenders, cooks, janitorial workers, delivery drivers), food and agricultural workers, United States Postal Service workers, manufacturing workers, grocery store workers, public transit workers, and those who work in the educational sector (teachers, support staff, and daycare workers) are worth sacrificing to win his culture war against masks."