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Proposed resolution: VT AFL-CIO supports Union led Green New Deal

Traven Leyshon
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Prososed resolution for the VT AFL-CIO 2021 Convention submitted By The Executive Board.

THE VT AFL-CIO SUPPORTS A UNION LED GREEN NEW DEAL

  • The Vermont AFL-CIO Demands a Green New Deal!
    • Pass The Federal Infrastructure Bill!
    • Pass ALL Social benefit expansions In The Budget Bill!
    • Pass The PRO Act!
    • Pass The For The People Act!
  • The Vermont AFL-CIO Opposes All Regressive Carbon Taxes! 
    • We say NO To The Neo-Liberal Transportation Climate Imitative!
    • Working People Pay Enough In Taxes Already!
    • It’s Time For Corporations & The Rich To Pay Their Share!

Whereas the United States economy faces dire challenges made acute by the COVID-19 pandemic and as a result decades of Government officials, from both the Republican and Democratic Parties, putting corporate interests and the rich above the needs of working people;

Whereas income and wealth inequity has reached crisis levels in the United States with the richest 1% owning the vast majority of the wealth;

Whereas the corporations and the rich do not pay their fair share of taxes;

Whereas presently in the United States the unemployment rate stands at over 5% while tens of millions of those who are working earn less than a livable wage, the cost of housing & healthcare are rising at unprecedented levels, millions are suffering food insecurity, childcare is not affordable, college tuition is not affordable; social services are underfunded, the arts are underfunded, and family farms are unsupported and facing foreclosures; 

Whereas decades of Republican attacks on Unions, and decades of the Democratic Party failing to defend Unions has resulted in the degradation of our rights, power, influence, and ability to more vigorously push back against social and economic injustice; 

Whereas our very democracy has come under attack by those who value the interest of the corporations and the wealthy over that of the people; 

Whereas climate change and environmental degradation represents an existential threat to civilization and the planet;

Whereas the U.S would be wise to place massive investments in our infrastructure, in expanding social programs, in supporting family farms, in supporting the arts, in  expanding Union rights, in defending & expanding democracy, and in transitioning our economy in a more green and more environmentally sustainable direction;

Whereas the coast of such new programs and investments must NOT be borne by working people, must not be regressive, and instead must be placed upon the corporations and the wealthy; 

Whereas any shift to a more green economy must be part of a Just Transition whereby displaced workers shall be guaranteed good paying Union jobs with family sustaining benefits;

Let It Therefore Be Resolved that the Vermont AFL-CIO calls for the implementation of a Union led Green New Deal to address these grievances;

Let It Be Further Resolved that the Vermont AFL-CIO will continue to work within the RENEW coalition in order to advance our vision for a Union led Green New Deal;

Let It Be Further Resolved that the Vermont AFL-CIO calls on the Federal Government to pass the Infrastructure Bill, the full scope of the Human Infrastructure improvements in the Budget Bill, the PRO Act, and the For The People Act;

Let It Further Be Resolved  that the Vermont AFL-CIO sees the passage of these four bills as only a modest start in advancing a Union led Green New Deal;

Let It Further Be Resolved  that the Vermont AFL-CIO calls upon the General Assembly in Montpelier to not defer responsibility for redress to our grievances exclusively to the Federal Government, and instead to take immediate steps in Vermont to realize aspects of a Union led Green New Deal including the making of new investments in infrastructure, investments in renewable energy production, mandating of prevailing wages and Union labor on all public projects (including the building of schools), increased spending on social services, more resources put towards affordable housing, a $15 an hour livable wage for all workers, single payer healthcare, free college tuition for all, affordable childcare for all, meaningful support for struggling family farms, additional public investments in the arts, passage of Card Check, and introducing a Constitutional Amendment establishing a Town Meeting based referendum system of government.

Let It Further Be Resolved  that the Vermont AFL-CIO demands that all such programs and investments, on a Federal and State level, be funded by tax increases on corporations and the wealthy, and NOT through new burdens being placed on working people or through any regressive measurers;

Let It Further Be Resolved  That the Vermont AFL-CIO shall continue to oppose the Transportation Climate Imitative (and any other false neo-liberal solutions), and that we shall continue to demand that Vermont NOT join this multi-state agreement because of its reliance on what amounts to a regressive carbon tax on working people;

And Finally Let It Further Be Resolved that this Vermont AFL-CIO policy shall be communicated to the three major political parties in Vermont, the Government in Montpelier and to our Congressional Delegation in Washington DC.

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