Living Wage & Labor Rights

• Increase employment and job training programs for welfare recipients.
• Provide childcare for welfare recipients who work.
• Increase access to public transportation for welfare recipients who work.
• Use federal TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) funds to expand state services to include the working poor.
• Support tax credits to developers for the construction of low-income housing.
• Increase funding for state job-training programs that re-train displaced workers or teach skills needed in today's job market.
• Provide tax credits for businesses that provide childcare for their employees. Increase state funds to provide childcare for children in low-income working families.

It is unacceptable that many people who work full-time are earning so little that they are still in poverty. Enact "living wage" laws statewide. Fight for the rights of workers, unions, and prevailing wage rules.

Our minimum wage has lost half its purchasing power since 1968. It's time to bring it up to date. A person who works full-time at a legal wage ought to be able to afford the necessities of life. This is one of the basic tenets that the people of this country support. Where living wage laws have been enacted, poverty has declined. Let's bring a living wage to all areas of California.

Our labor laws need to be updated. As employers have hired fancy consultants and lawyers to get around labor laws, the balance between working people and corporations has gotten out of kilter. We need to have real penalties for employers who fire workers merely for union membership. The Taft-Hartley Act needs to be repealed. Employers need to have sanctions to impel them to reach a contract agreement after the employees vote for union representation.

For farm workers, this means that employers and workers must submit to binding arbitration if a contract is not reached in a reasonable length of time.