Read the Charter — The People's Charter
 
 
 
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In 2020, Americans came together to care for each other like never before. Our government wasn’t caring for us— It didn’t even seem to care about us. 

It was an unprecedented year of crisis: a global pandemic, an economic collapse, Black people killed by police and climate disasters from wildfires to hurricanes. 

We made it through by caring for one another. Grocery clerks and farmworkers kept food on our shelves. Nurses saved lives while risking their own. Neighbors delivered supplies to those most vulnerable and shared what they have with people who need it. And millions took to the streets in grief and anger to demand an end to police killings and all racial injustice.

Our politicians, again, rushed to bail out corporations and billionaires -- and the super rich got even richer as millions lost their jobs, and even went hungry. They cared for billionaires a lot more than they cared for working people.

We voted out Trump and stopped the bleeding. But now it’s time to remake our nation on a new foundation. We can heal the wounds from the pandemic, the economic depression, and a history of racism. We can preserve a habitable planet for our children. And we can do more. Working people can come together to make a nation that cares for all of us. 

 
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Care for the Wronged

Repair historic harms and end systemic racism.

  • Shift resources away from policing, jails and detention centers, endless wars and agencies that separate families. Shift resources into schools, housing, healthcare and jobs, to enable all people – especially Black and brown people, immigrants, and Indigenous people – to thrive. 

  • Eliminate restrictive local zoning rules that keep housing and schools segregated by race and class. Aid Black families, and other people of color harmed by redlining in buying homes.

  • Respect the sovereignty of Indigenous Peoples and Tribal Nations. 

 
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Emergency Care*

Help everyone get and stay well, and support workers, families, and small businesses as long as it takes.

  • Free Covid testing and treatment for all, including the vaccine once one is available. 

  • Extend expanded $600 per week Unemployment Insurance until there are jobs for people to return to. Make sure it’s available to everyone, regardless of immigration status. 

  • No evictions, foreclosures, or utility shut-offs during the pandemic. Cancel rent and suspend debt payments until jobs return. 

  • Provide retroactive hazard pay for all essential workers

  • Care for parents, kids and teachers by delaying school reopening until the virus subsides and schools have the resources to do so safely. Ensure every student learning from home has the devices, nutrition and accommodations they need.

  • Care for the most vulnerable during the crisis, especially the homeless, migrants, people with disabilities, trans people, and survivors of domestic and sexual violence, by making sure everyone can access vital services and has a safe place to go. 

  • Direct federal funding to states and cities to prevent layoffs and cuts to schools, hospitals, and other public services when we need them most. 

  • Get help to small businesses to preserve vibrant local communities and protect jobs.

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A Good Job for Everyone Who Needs One

 

Working people can’t wait years for jobs to come back, we need millions of jobs now.

  • Invest $1 trillion per year for the next ten years to put 15 million people to work immediately -- upgrading our broken infrastructure, modernizing and retrofitting millions of homes and buildings, caring for children, seniors and the disabled, protecting and restoring forests and wetlands, creating opportunities for family farmers and rural communities, and revitalizing American manufacturing.

  • Raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour everywhere.

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Care for Each Other

Address the deficiencies in how our government cares for us that the pandemic has revealed.

  • Make health care free and universal and take hospital and health insurance profits out of it. 

  • Ensure every worker who wants a union can join one, so that all workers, and especially essential workers, can bargain for good pay and benefits, safe conditions, and a voice on the job.

  • Guarantee universal child care, paid family and medical leave and paid sick days, and income support for parents taking care of kids full time.

  • Provide safe, affordable housing for all. 

  • Guarantee home and community based services for everyone, including mental health care. 

  • Cancel student debt, an unfair burden on working and middle class young adults.

  • Tax the giant corporations who don’t pay their share, and the wealth of the billionaires, who have gotten richer during the worst economic collapse in 90 years.

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Care for the Future

Act now to make us all more resilient to challenges we know we have to confront. 

  • Invest now to make our food, water, electricity, health, financial and other systems resilient to future crises like climate change.

    • Create public banks to make needed investments whenever private markets fail to.

    • Give the public ownership stakes in all corporations receiving bailouts.

    • Instead of subsidizing and bailing out oil and gas companies, buy them out, to further our transition away from fossil fuels and towards regenerative energy sources, and create green jobs in the process. Prioritize a just transition for workers in extractive industries. 

    • Prioritize investments in the poor and working-class communities, especially communities of color, which have historically suffered most from pollution. Ensure everyone has clean air to breathe and clean water to drink.  

  • Emphasize cooperation and diplomacy over competition in our dealings with other countries in order to confront challenges that transcend borders, like pandemics, armed conflicts, and climate change.

  • Protect our democracy from takeover by billionaires, corporations, war profiteers and bigots by getting big money out of politics, ending partisan gerrymandering, and ensuring that every vote counts. Save the USPS to ensure we can vote by mail.

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sign the people’s charter

 

The United States of America is the richest country in the history of the world. We can get ourselves out of the messes we’re in. Imagine if the grocery store clerks, the farmworkers, the nurses, the teachers, the bus drivers and all of the working people in this country were in charge of it. Imagine how different things would be.

We can get there — and voting is only the first step. Signing the People’s Charter means you want to build this future — and you’re ready to take action to make it happen.

The Working Families Party is the party for the multiracial working class, fighting for a nation that cares for all of us. Join us.

 
 
 
 
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* We released the People’s Charter in October 2020. On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act into law. The ARP addressed a number of the demands in the Emergency Care section of the People’s Charter. It accelerated vaccine distribution, free of charge. It extended expanded Unemployment Insurance at $300 per week through September. It provided relief for renters and small businesses. It provided resources to accelerate safe reopening of schools and, through the expanded Child Tax Credit, got help to parents. Stimulus checks provided financial support to the vast majority of US families. And money for local and state governments prevented layoffs and ensured that people had access to services.

 
 
 
 
 

*Publicamos la Carta Popular en octubre del 2020. El 11 de marzo de 2021, el presidente Biden convirtió en ley el Plan de Rescate Estadounidense (ARP, por sus siglas en inglés). El ARP abordó una serie de exigencias en la sección de cuidado de emergencia de la Carta Popular. Esto aceleró la distribución de las vacunas, en forma gratuita. Extendió el Seguro de Desempleo Ampliado de $300 por semana hasta septiembre. Proporcionó un alivio para arrendatarios y pequeñas empresas. Proporcionó recursos para acelerar la reapertura segura de las escuelas y, a través de la ampliación del Crédito Tributario por Hijos, los padres y madres recibieron ayuda. Los cheques de estímulo proporcionaron soporte económico a la gran mayoría de las familias estadounidenses. Y el dinero para los gobiernos locales y estatales previnieron despidos y aseguraron que la gente tuviera acceso a servicios.