Economic and Social Justice

The Economic Justice Organizing team is committed to supporting policies for economic recovery, which stimulate the economy through public investment in job creation, builds a sustainable economy and renders economic justice. The Bush administration’s enormous tax breaks for the wealthy must be rolled back on the richest 1 percent of our population (with yearly incomes averaging $1.3 million). Tax burdens on the middle class can be eased if the wealthy pay their share. Thirty seven million people (equivalent to the population of California) are living in poverty in the U.S. today. These immoral levels of poverty, which disproportionately impact communities of color and women, can be significantly reduced through concerted effort including a living wage for all workers, expanded earned income tax credits, childcare assistance and housing vouchers.

Protecting the right of workers to form and join unions in the U.S. is essential to preserving the middle class, as is federal investment in job creation, such as the Apollo Alliance for renewable energy, and investment in wireless Internet networks. We need fair trade deals with other countries that protect workers' rights and the environment not wage-reducing "free trade" agreements that protect only corporate rights to globally exploit unprotected labor. Finally, we need humane and comprehensive immigration reform, which insures a fair attainable path to citizenship and the rights of undocumented workers in the workplace and affirms the dignity and integrity of immigrant families.