Party Platform:
Labor & Economic Justice
We believe that all residents of the United States should be assured that public monies are administered in a fair and effective manner to deliver services equitably to all.
We call on lawmakers to:
- Take all necessary steps to help the victims of natural disasters rebuild their lives and their homes through FEMA;• Make an accounting of all disaster relief funds and expenditures;
- Support the National Housing and Trust Fund Act and support low interest loans to first time home buyers;
- Immediately raise the Federal minimum wage to a living wage;
- Enact and enforce legislation that protects workers under all state and federal labor laws, including the right to organize;
- Require enforcement of job safety regulations.
We oppose:
- Legislation that would lead to a decline in benefits or lead to a lessening of protections for injured workers and their families;• The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and other similar free trade treaties.
We support laws that prohibit the exploitation of foreign and domestic workers in accordance with the following policy:
- Companies and nations doing business in or with the U.S. shall be required to adhere to the International Labor Organization (ILO) Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work including, but not limited to, the right to organize into unions and the right to collectively bargain;
- Abolition of child labor;
- Elimination of forced or compulsory labor;
- Protection of the environment;
- Elimination of discrimination;
- Elimination of tax breaks for corporations that violate ILO Principles and Rights or that lay-off U.S. workers and move their jobs offshore;
- Prohibition on our government from moving our jobs offshore;
- Increasing labor opportunities for under-represented minorities;
- Equalization of pay and promotional opportunity for women and protection from sexual harassment;
We believe that the conflict between protection of the environment and protection of industry related to extraction or that cause pressure on the environment has often led to the loss of jobs, which is not in the interest of the Skagit Democratic Party or Skagit County residents.
Therefore, We support:
- Development of funding for a just transition of workers to new jobs, through paid training;• Workers and environmentalists joining to initiate a nationwide Just Transition Superfund for Congress to enact.