With working-class families reeling under the impact of the housing bubble bursting, rising prices, and layoffs, workers and the labor movement need a clear program that defends our interests.

No Housing Foreclosures
Predatory lending and speculation in the housing market has put the cost of a home beyond working-class families already struggling with falling living standards. Every family should have ready access to affordable, quality housing. We demand a moratorium on home foreclosures.

No Layoffs, No Cutbacks
When the bosses say they aren’t making enough profits and they have to lay off workers, or worse, close down, we need to reply: “We won’t accept it.” As workers, we didn’t create this crisis – it was caused by the bosses’ system.

In this system, if you don’t have a job, you can’t survive. So how can we accept layoffs? A worker without a job is condemned to serious economic hardship, and his or her family faces enormous stress and possible life on the streets.

Guaranteed Jobs and a Living Wage
We demand that every worker have a full-time job at a living wage, which we estimate as at least $12.50 per hour. Those on disability or caring for children or other needy adults should be guaranteed an income of $500 per week. We also need a universal healthcare system so everyone can have healthcare regardless of their situation.

Public Works Programs
We need to set up a massive public works program to provide full employment and address the needs of society. There are plenty of important projects: building high quality public transportation systems, developing solar and wind power, launching a massive healthcare program, building quality affordable homes, rebuilding the infrastructure, creating new industries, and building new schools and community centers.

Workers should be retrained as necessary to become part of these new industries. Public works programs are not new to this country. Most roads, bridges, railroads, and dams were built through public works programs that provided millions of jobs.

A 30-Hour Workweek with No Loss of Pay or Benefits
An immediate step to achieve full employment would be to reduce the workweek to 30 hours, with no loss in pay or benefits. This would distribute all the existing work between the employed and unemployed. This stops one section of the working class from being thrown out of work and becoming destitute.

Open the Corporate Books
How do we counter the bosses’ argument that they have no money? We demand that they open their books.

By this we don’t mean just their bank statements and balance sheets, but all their economic records, their correspondence with banks, and financial perks of management. Then we will be in a position to judge the financial standing of the company.

If the company can afford it, then we demand that the company maintain its workforce at existing rates of pay or higher.

Public Ownership of Failing Companies
If a company cannot afford it, or is going bankrupt, we need to put blame on its management, not its workers. We demand that the company be taken out of private hands. All assets should become public property by laws of imminent domain or through public ownership.

Publicly-run enterprises should be democratically managed by elected representatives of the workers and accountable to the needs of local communities, as part of developing a national plan for the economy.

Public Ownership of Banks and Major Financial Institutions
The major banks and financial institutions have put speculative profit-making above the needs of ordinary people. Their outrageous interest rates and predatory lending practices are a major obstacle to the needs of working people. We demand their public ownership as a first step to reallocating all available resources into rebuilding the economy in the needs of the vast majority rather than a tiny elite.

Make Big Business Pay
Many workers will ask: “How would all this be paid for? Won’t it mean a tax increase for workers?” We say “No!” Workers already pay too much in taxes.

First, we need to repeal Bush’s tax cuts for the rich, slash military spending, and end corporate welfare. Taxes on the super rich and big business should be sharply raised.

Then there is all the waste of the capitalist system – the waste in short-term production, shoddy products designed to wear out quickly, and marketing. Over $1 trillion is spent every year on advertising. That sum could provide education, quality housing, healthcare, clean water, and sanitation for all people on the planet. We do not accept the claim that in this day and age a decent life cannot be provided for all human beings.

We can build a new society in the interests of workers by creating a socialist plan of production. This can be done by bringing the top 500 corporations that dominate the economy into public ownership. By establishing democratic workers’ control and management of the economy, we can ensure that the economy meets the needs of all working people, not those of the bosses.