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 Highlights of the Convention Message from National Organizer Tony Mazzocchi Convention Resolutions Sign up for Email Updates Join the Labor Party! |
Build
the Future: Labor Party Convention and Conference Resolutions and Constitutional Amendments Current Meltdown of Corporate America Resolution For the past 20 years working people have suffered at the hands of Corporate America. They have destroyed our jobs, cut our pensions and health benefits, degraded our work and reduced our standards of living. They bought the political system and destroyed many of our unions. To fight back, we formed the Labor Party in 1996 and developed our "Call for Economic Justice." We said that: "…we come together to create this Labor Party to defend our interests and aspirations from the greed of multinational corporate interests. Decades of concessions to corporations by both political parties have not produced the full employment economy we have been promised. Instead, income and wealth disparities have widened to shameful extents" Now everyone knows what we're talking about. Corporate America is losing legitimacy. It is cracking under the weight of its own greed. Enron, WorldCom and Global Crossing are only the first in what will be a longer list of corporate thieves who have devoured what were supposed to be our nest-eggs in an orgy of corporate greed. These corporate thieves have only done what comes naturally to them - they have run off with hundreds of millions while destroying their companies, the workers' jobs and pensions. At the same time Corporate America has accelerated its drive for the globalization of greed - an international trade regime that is killing millions of good paying jobs here and impoverishing workers around the world. The corporate thieves, however, have certainly taken care of themselves. One statistic tells it all. · In 1980, the average CEO pay was 42 times the average worker pay. · In 1990, the average CEO pay was 85 times average worker pay. · In 1995, it was 141 times average worker pay. · 1996, it was 209 times the average worker pay. · In 2000, average CEO pay was 531 times average worker pay! What is different today is that everyone knows that something is wrong. Corporate America is on the defensive as the revelations continue to mount up. That means that our agenda, the only agenda that speaks unequivocally for the interests of working people, potentially could form the basis for a new anti-corporate movement. While the two parties opportunistically pretend to correct corporate ills while still collecting as much corporate financial backing as possible, this labor party stands out as the only political entity that has in place a program that can tackle the problem - unregulated corporate power. Corporations cannot limit their "infectious greed" on their own any more than a fox can become a hen. The only solution is to reduce unregulated corporate power by building the power of working people and their institutions. And the Labor Party Call for Economic Justice does just that. For our critics, the Call was unrealistic and utopian. We were told our plans would destroy the health of our economy. But today, it is a common sense solution to unabashed corporate greed. · They said deregulation of finance, of utilities, and the rest of the entire private sector was the answer. We said "no" to privatization, and we were right. · They said that the public sector was the problem. We called for a major revitalization of the public sector, and we were right. · They said free trade would raise all boats. We said corporate abuse of trade would destroy our jobs and incomes, and sadly, we were right. · They said tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy would make our economy grow. We called for the end of corporate welfare, making the rich pay their fair share, and we were right again. · They said the two major parties would keep corporations in check. We called for the end of corporate domination of elections and the need for a party pf working people. We were right then. And we are right now! Let us reaffirm the pledge we made in 1996: "Our Labor Party understands that our struggle for democracy pits us against a corporate elite that will fight hard to retain its powers and privileges. This is the struggle of our generation. The future of our children and their children hangs in the balance. It is a struggle we cannot afford to lose." Therefore, be it resolved that the Labor Party Convention of 2002, reaffirm its commitment to its "Call for Economic Justice" and promote it in every forum possible. |
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