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Greens Demand Preservation of Overtime, Urge Reversal of Policies That Hurt US Workers. |
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GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES GREENS DEMAND PRESERVATION OF OVERTIME, URGE REVERSAL OF POLICIES THAT HURT U.S. WORKERS WASHINGTON, D.C. -- "With the leaders we have in Washington, Americans have to practice 'defensive citizenship,'" said Robert Gabrielsky, Green Party candidate for the New Jersey Senate, District 2. "You always have to be on guard against deceptive rhetoric. On working people's concerns, Washington's record is pretty bad." Greens note that June 2003 unemployment figures reached 6.4%, the highest in more than nine years. Nearly three million U.S. jobs have been lost in the aftermath of the Clinton/Gore administration; almost a million in the last three months. The Labor Department and Republicans in Congress recently introduced the "Family-Time Flexibility Act," deceptively titled legislation that would eliminate overtime pay for about 8 million Americans. "Americans are learning that President Bush's obsession with tax giveaways for the wealthy is hurting working people and their families," said Gloria Mattera, Green-No To War! candidate for New York City Council. "But our economic hardships are the product of both Democrats and Republicans. NAFTA and other antidemocratic international trade deals were signed by Clinton, over the protests of unions, environmentalists, and many others, including Greens. These trade cabals have enabled corporations to move good-paying jobs out of the U.S. and into countries without worker and environmental protections." "Unelected and unaccountable corporate CEOs have hijacked our government and our social institutions, but there is a rising resistance to this illegitimate usurpation of our authority to govern ourselves," said David Cobb, General Counsel for the Green Party of the United States. "The Green Party is the electoral arm of the growing citizen's movement demanding our country back. We categorically reject the absurd notion that corporations are 'persons' with constitutional rights. Corporations must be made subordinate to the democratic will of the citizens if the hallowed phrase 'We the People' is to have any meaning at all." Greens demand that employee rights and benefits such as overtime pay, Social Security, and pensions be maintained. The party has called for the repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act, which restricts union organizing, and insists that all international trade agreements must respect local and national sovereignty, especially environmental laws, labor protections, and full democratic participation. Greens also support national health insurance, democratic unions and workplaces, progressive taxation that closes loopholes for corporations and the wealthy, and living wage legislation. Elected Green officials like Santa Monica, California Mayor pro tem Kevin McKeown have led efforts to enact living wages. "The federal minimum wage was meant to provide workers with an income floor," said McKeown, "but it has become a pathetic sub-basement. Working full-time should afford the dignity of being able to support your loved ones. Taxpayers shouldn't be subsidizing employers by paying for working families' food stamps and health care." "Working people need more than a break -- we need our own party, and a complete turn-around in the current direction of labor policy," said Kirstin Marr, media director for the Colorado Green Party. "Otherwise, the gains of decades of labor battles, to which Americans owe their prosperity, will be destroyed. The Green Party has emerged as the party of working people. That's why the party is growing and we're getting elected." NOTE: The Green Party of the United States will hold its 2003 national meeting at the Mayflower Hotel, 1127 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. from Friday, July 18 through Sunday, July 20. For media registration for the conference, visit <http://www.gp.org/forms/conf2003form.html>. For more information about the conference, visit <http://www.gp.org/conference2003.html>. MORE INFORMATION search: ecpol, labpol |