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"95
Theses" for 2003 The income and wealth gap between the rich and the rest of the people is the greatest it has been in this country since the 1920s. And it is greater in New York than in any other state. Our poverty rate of 16.7% is significantly higher than the national average of 12.7%. Many New York families must struggle from paycheck to paycheck and often cannot afford to cover the cost of daily living. A state as wealthy as ours truly is able to ensure that all its citizens obtain basic necessities and not have to rely on the fluctuating availability of help from food pantries and other charitable institutions. In the conviction that the values expressed by the diverse faith communities of the Capital District require us to seek justice in all sectors of our lives, we present a modest list of fewer than 95 proposals and propositions for improving our common life. We believe that they, and the values they express, are consistent with the just demands of the poor and of working people in general. We hope that others, both faith-based and secular, will agree with these proposals and will add others to them. We invite all who seek justice and equity to join with us in organizing and advocating to bring them to fruition. Therefore, in order
to develop an economically just system in which basic human rights are valued
and respected, the Capital District Labor-Religion Coalition and its friends issue
this call for New York State and its legislature to abide by the following "theses": We note that the wealthiest New Yorkers, with incomes of over a half million dollars, pay a smaller share of their income in taxes than do other taxpayers. The richest pay only 6.5% of their income in state and local taxes while others average out to 12%. In addition, when the State budget is cut, local property and sales taxes soar; the proposed Executive Budget will increase local property taxes by an average of 15% this year and for some communities local taxes could rise more than 25%. NO JOB-KILLING SERVICE REDUCTIONS: The economic destructiveness of service cutbacks must be taken into account. Long-term budget balancing must not be accomplished by shifting the pain to the less powerful. In the long run, that pain will spread to others. The Executive Budget proposes more than $4.7 billion in cuts to essential education, health care, and mental health services. That means 5,000 State jobs lost plus another 45,000 public and healthcare jobs that rely on state funding. In addition to killing jobs directly, these cuts also kill valuable services for many vulnerable people. JOBS FOR ALL: We support a State constitutional amendment to provide a living wage job for all New Yorkers. This constitutional amendment must ensure that corporations will not be able to exploit workers by paying them insufficient wages that do not reflect the cost of living. IMMEDIATE INCREASE IN THE MINIMUM WAGE: During the time before a living wage constitutional standard is adopted, the state's minimum wage must be raised to at least $6.75. The real value of the minimum wage has declined by 31% since 1980. Retail clerks, for example, work long hours with little pay. Women are 72% of Wal-Mart's clerks and earn an average of $6.10 an hour, putting many below the poverty level with half qualifying for federal assistance. In effect, government assistance subsidizes Wal-Mart's low-wage policies, allowing the corporation to increase its profits while the government, and charities, supply the needed resources to the workers. Business corporations must pay their own way by paying adequate wages. IMMEDIATE INCLUSION OF FARMWORKERS UNDER THE LABOR LAW: Farmworkers still do not have the right to bargain collectively, to overtime pay, to a day of rest or to coverage by occupational health and safety laws. The "Farmworker Omnibus Bill" must be enacted this year. A RESOLUTION IN THE NYS LEGISLATURE AGAINST WAR IN IRAQ: War, in the best of circumstances, is destructive of human life, welfare and rights. In the absence of defensive necessity, the impending war is an unreasonable policy choice that works against our values, against people's needs, and against economic and social justice, here and abroad. Basic labor rights to unionize and to bargain collectively are being compromised. A RESOLUTION IN THE NYS LEGISLATURE AGAINST THE EXCESSES OF THE PATRIOT ACT: Civil liberties are being negated by secret procedures, warrant-less searches, secret detentions without access to lawyers, and other unchecked, un-reviewable executive powers. New York should emulate other jurisdictions which have refused cooperation with federal authorities under some circumstances. A REVERSAL IN THE NYS LEGISLATURE OF ANTI-CIVL LIBERTIES EXCESSES IN THE STATE'S POST 9/11 ANTI-TERRORISM LAWS: Laws passed in haste, with emotion, endanger peaceful and constitutional activism and advocacy. "Anti-terrorist" legislation must retain civil rights protections in order to prevent the constitution from being subverted and to prevent universal surveillance without legal restraints. UNCHECKED POWER DESTROYS DEMOCRACY: This "thesis" is historically attested to and must be invoked against both governmental excesses such as those mentioned above and the excesses of giant corporations. UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE: All New Yorkers should have access to adequate health care. Three million New Yorkers have no health care coverage. New York should enact a single payer universal health care program, as is used in every other industrial country. WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION: While waiting for Universal Health Care, an overhaul in Workmen's Comp is needed to correct lengthy delays and the too-frequent denial of benefits and medical treatment to those injured on the job. Studies and treatment for those in NYC who were affected by the toxic air of 9/11 must be provided. JOB
CREATION: Welfare participants who may lack education and job experience need
opportunities to make the transition from welfare to work. A first step is to
enact the Empire State Jobs bill. Workfare participants should be guaranteed a
job after a period of satisfactory performance. Workfare must not be used to displace
existing jobs or workers. Welfare participants should be able to satisfy their work requirements through participation in education and training program, including college, work study and internships. We urge the Legislature to propose a bill that will allow higher education to be counted toward the TANF work requirement. Studies show that many welfare recipients lack basic education. The Governor failed to sign A.7933/S.7696, which sought to expand access to basic education, and allowed up to 16 hours a week of education to count as work. The legislature must take up this issue again, quickly. WELFARE BENEFITS THAT RAISE PEOPLE OUT OF POVERTY: The average public assistance grant of $577 a month has not been increased since 1990 and comes to only 51% of the federal poverty line. Two thirds of welfare participants are children. The welfare grant should be raised to a level above the poverty line. As an immediate step, the grant should be restored to its value in 1990. AFFORDABLE HOUSING: New York State has the least affordable housing in the nation. One out of every three New York renters cannot afford their housing. New York must make affordable housing a priority, and increase subsidies for low-income housing. It is a scandal that homelessness exists in a state with so much wealth. Rehabilitating decayed urban housing must be emphasized as a way of dealing not only with affordable housing but also with the problem of REGIONAL SPRAWL. AFFORDABLE TRANSPORTATION: Lack of access to transportation is a major barrier to many low-income individuals seeking work, especially at a living wage. Subsidies for public transportation should be increased, including rural and suburban communities. Funding for transportation initiatives to support welfare-to-employment programs must be increased. HIGH QUALITY, AFFORDABLE CHILD-CARE: Care should be available on a sliding scale to families with income up to 85% of the state median income ($43,000 for a family of four). To improve the quality of child-care, we need to increase government reimbursement rates paid to child-care providers and to raise the salaries of child-care workers. PAY EQUITY FOR WOMEN: The Equal Pay law
must be improved, as it currently applies only to jobs with the same title. The
result is that women in female-dominated occupations are underpaid and undervalued.
There are several bills under consideration in the legislature that would take
into account "comparable worth", based on skills, effort, responsibilities
and education. For the last five sessions, the Senate has blocked these bills. EQUAL EDUCATION FOR ALL: NYS legislators should participate in, and encourage, the filing of amicus curiae briefs in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity's appeal before the NYS Court of Appeals. The New York State Constitution requires an adequate education for each child, yet schooling is grossly unequal, depending on the wealth of each school's community. Suit was brought by the Campaign and won at the initial stage, calling for remedial change. The State appealed and judgment was reversed, with the judge interpreting the constitutional requirement for adequate education to be fulfilled by schooling through the eighth (or ninth) grade. This decision was appealed to the highest Court in the State and hearings begin in May. ABIDE BY THE NYS CONSTITUTION: The NYS Legislature should be held accountable for violating an amendment to the NYS Constitution that requires that basic needs of all New Yorkers be fulfilled. Contrary to this amendment, the basic needs of millions of New Yorkers are not being met as is evidenced by the fact that over 900,000 people must rely on food programs each week in our state. PASS AN ECONOMIC SECURITY AMENDMENT FOR NEW YORK STATE: Human needs and rights should take precedence over the economic system that we develop, not vice versa. An amendment should be added to New York State's Constitution to ensure that its economic system will be modified as needed in order to meet the needs of all its citizens. SUPPORT SMALL-SCALE NEW YORK FARMERS: Allocate funds towards projects designed to help smaller farmers compete against agribusiness and earn adequate profits that maintain business. Such funds could be used to help farmers sell directly to New York consumers. INCREASE FUNDING FOR EMERGENCY FOOD PROGRAMS: Hunger has increased while donations to Emergency Food Programs have decreased. We strongly recommend that the NYS Legislature increase, or at least preserve, funding for the Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program that provides funds to food pantries and soup kitchens. Last year's state funding for HPNAP was $24.4 million-far short of the total cost of providing food to more than 900,000 New Yorkers each week. To keep pace with the increasing demand for emergency food would require HPNAP funding of at least $30.4 million. DEVELOP A FAIR BUDGET PROCESS: The People's Budget has been developed by the Fair Budget Campaign, a group of statewide non-profit organizations that share an interest in ensuring budget equity for all New Yorkers. The Fair Budget Campaign seeks a budget process that is open to the public, and a budget that takes into account the needs of all New Yorkers not just those at the top of the socio-economic ladder. Contributors have included Citizen Action of NYS, Citizens' Environmental Coalition, Environmental Advocates, Fiscal Policy Institute, Hunger Action Network of NYS, The Interfaith Alliance of NYS, New Yorkers For Fiscal Fairness, the Statewide Emergency Network for Social and Economic Security (SENSES), Statewide Senior Action Council of NYS, and the Student Association of the State Universities (SASU). The legislature should follow their lead. BEGIN A PROCESS OF CHECKING CORPORATE POWER AND ENDING CORPORATE RULE: Challenge policies that give corporations the power to pull out of New York for the purpose of hiring cheap labor elsewhere and paying meager wages in other countries. As a society, we must begin to deal seriously with corporate power's ability to exploit workers and communities. USE THE EXISTING CONSTITUTIONAL POWERS TO DE-CHARTER CORPORATIONS: Corporations with recidivist criminal records should be de-chartered or, alternatively, put into trusteeships, so that the interests of local communities, workers, customers, suppliers and regional planning and environmental concerns can be brought into a process of responsible corporate governance. Until state and local governments take away corporate power to abuse and underpay workers, labor exploitation will continue, as will sprawl and environmental degradation. LABOR'S RIGHT TO ORGANIZE: The recurring actions of corporations like Wal-Mart to interfere illegally with their workers' right to form a union should be a major criterion in assessing whether or not to take away a corporate charter or the license to do business in NY. Other violations of labor laws, such as forced off-the-clock overtime and violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act, should also be heavily weighted. CHALLENGE THE STATUS OF THE CORPORATION AS A LEGAL PERSON: This legal fiction is one of the roots of corporate power and is based on a 19th Century Supreme Court commentary, not an actual ruling in a case. Although the doctrine is firmly upheld by the courts, it is conceptually vulnerable to challenge. The legislature should resolve to seek ways to do this. CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY FOR CREATING JOBS IN RETURN FOR TAX INCENTIVES: Programs like the Empire Zones fail to provide documentation of value received for tax advantages given. The legislature must tighten the rules for oversight and for performance. Corporate tax breaks must not be granted lightly without recourse, in the all-too-frequent event of failure to produce the promised benefits. CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM: New Yorkers are increasingly fed up with a political system where contributions from wealthy special interests matter more than health care, decent jobs, education, Social Security and the environment. Restore the principle of "one person, one vote" by enacting "Clean Money, Clean Elections" reform in New York. Clean Money, Clean Elections legislation establishes a system under which candidates in New York who agree to limit campaign spending and contributions, and who collect a set amount of small contributions from voters, will receive a fixed and equal amount of public financing for their political campaigns. Only potential voters - human beings, not corporate beings -should be allowed to make political contributions. REPEAL THE ROCKEFELLER DRUG LAWS: The Rockefeller Drug Laws require mandatory prison sentencing of New Yorkers who have sold or possessed relatively small amounts of controlled substances. Repealing the Rockefeller Drug Laws will enable New York judges to use discretion and sentence people to treatment instead. This will lead to fewer prison terms and eliminate "warehousing" people in prison as a viable anti-drug tactic. This will also decrease the voting dilution that comes from housing urban and minority prisoners in rural, predominantly white areas. The areas with the prisons gain official population and thus also gain government funding and electoral influence, while the prisoners' home areas lose them. VOTING DILUTION SHOULD BE ENDED: The practice of counting prisoners as residents of the county in which they are imprisoned must stop, since, in practice, it discriminates against communities of the poor and of people of color. THE APPARENTLY SYSTEMATIC DENIAL OF PAROLE MUST BE INVESTIGATED: The legislature should investigate the administration's policies to see if state parole laws are being violated by the refusal to parole large numbers of prisoners who have been rehabilitated. Any discriminatory policies or practices must be ended. CUTS IN LEGAL DEFENSE SERVICES MUST BE REVERSED: Legal defense for low-income people has always been inadequate and is being cut further. The result is that the poor and people of color, who are already over-represented in jails and prisons, will have little help in obtaining justice within the legal system. Funds should be restored - and increased. JUVENILE JUSTICE NEEDS TO EMPHASIZE REHABILITATION OVER PUNISHMENT: Harsh policies of imprisoning 16-year-olds in adult prisons and treating some children as young as 13 as adults are inhumane and ineffective, producing trauma and hardened criminals. Building juvenile prisons as warehouses for the young is no solution. END THE DEATH PENALTY IN NEW YORK STATE: An immediate moratorium is necessary as an interim measure while the final determination is being argued out. The facts of racial and ethnic disparities in sentencing, inadequate availability of resources to defend the poor, and frequent conviction of the innocent are well known. The death penalty must go. This is an open-ended document. Additional proposals and "theses" are welcomed. Issues concerning the Environment and "Smart Growth" or Regional Sprawl and Urban Deterioration are a vital part of the agenda for Economic Justice and Social Equity. "Solutions" don't come in separate bits; systemic changes are needed. The sources of these proposals include the Capital District Labor-Religion Coalition, the Capital District Area Labor Federation, the Hunger Action Network of New York State, the Center for Law & Justice, the Interfaith Alliance of NYS, the Child Care That Works Campaign, the Alliance for Quality Education, the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, the Clean Money Clean Elections Campaign, the Campaign for Workers' Health and Safety. New Yorkers Against The Death Penalty, and ARISE (A Regional Initiative Supporting Empowerment). One should not conclude that all the proposals, or the way they are presented, are endorsed by all of these organizations.
Last Updated:3/192003 |