The Working Families Party focuses on the bread and butter economic issues that affect all of us.
We’re fighting for a world where the economy works for everyone. One where politicians are held accountable to regular people, instead of big-money backers, lobbyists and huge corporations. One where all of us, no matter where we come from, can find a good job, visit a doctor when we need it, afford a decent place to live, send our kids to quality schools, and have a secure retirement.
We’re fighting to bring back the American Dream, and we want you to join us.
Good Jobs.
Good jobs with fair pay and decent benefits that can support a family are disappearing. For most of us, pay is stagnating or even declining. And too many of the new jobs that get created are jobs with low pay and no benefits and no security. It isn’t right.
Let’s put Connecticut back to work. We support raising the minimum wage, living wage legislation so taxpayers aren’t subsidizing poverty wages, and green jobs legislation to invest in new jobs. We oppose tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, we oppose slashing jobs in our schools, hospitals and cities and towns.
Main Street, not Wall Street.
When the economy was in free fall, Congress acted quickly to bail out the banks. But today on Wall Street, bonuses are back and bigger than ever. For the rest of us, the economy is still languishing. It’s time to stand up for hard working families, protect consumers from dangerous mortgages and predatory credit cards and create tough rules to stop the Wall Street casino from threatening all the rest of us.
Fair Taxes.
If you think you’re paying more than your fair share of taxes, you’re probably right. As property taxes have risen, working and middle class families in Connecticut pay a far higher share of their income in state and local taxes than the very rich.
The very wealthiest individuals have seen their taxes plummet at the state and federal level. Large corporations dodge millions in state taxes. Meanwhile, our elected leaders have given tax breaks to any business with the lobbying juice to get one. The result is, the rest of us pay more.
It’s time to make sure that the super rich and big corporations pay their fair share — and stop pushing the burden onto middle income families.
Paid Sick Days.
For far too many hard working Connecticut families without paid sick days, losing wages is as easy as catching the flu and having to take your child to the doctor could mean losing your job. It’s not healthy, and it’s not right.
Especially in a tough economy, no one should have to choose between their job and their family’s health. For people who have paid sick days, they’re easy to take for granted — until your waiter, your child’s school bus driver or day care provider comes to work sick. Allowing workers to earn paid sick days is critical to family economic security and to public health.
Affordable healthcare.
Everyone deserves quality medical care when they’re sick — and a family doctor to keep you healthy. But rising costs have pushed quality healthcare out of reach for too many families. Even for those of us who have healthcare coverage, costs are getting to be too much to bear, with the price of premiums outpacing inflation every year. And one unexpected serious medical problem can bankrupt any family all too easily.
The high cost of healthcare is draining small businesses too — since small business don’t have the bargaining power larger businesses do, high costs hit them the hardest, and keep them from providing healthcare.
Quality Schools.
Every child in Connecticut deserves a high quality education, no matter where they grow up. We should focus on what we know works in our schools: smaller class size and getting parents more involved in their children’s education.
Even in times of tight budgets, quality schools shouldn’t be on the chopping block. It’s unfair to make our children pay.