The Program of the WIL: What We Fight For

For the right to strike, union representation, and collective bargaining

Repeal all anti-union laws including Taft-Hartley. End compulsory arbitration and the victimization of trade unionists and those forming new unions. Unionize the unorganized. Mobilize the rank and file to fight the bosses' attacks. A united Labor Movement has the power to beat the bosses and their politicians.

For trade union democracy

All union officials to be regularly elected with the right of immediate recall by the membership. All officials to receive the average wage of a skilled worker, plus vetted expenses.

For a mass party of labor based on the unions

The Labor Movement must break with the Democrats. For a militant, class independent program against the attacks of Big Business and the bosses' political parties. By fighting for socialist policies that can truly address the needs and aspirations of workers and youth, a genuine workers' party  would get a mass echo.

Full employment and housing

No to lay-offs. Thirty hours work for forty hours pay. The right to a secure, full-time job, full benefits, or a place in education. For a national minimum wage of at least $16 per hour. Wages to be adjusted for inflation through periodic Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA). For union control over hiring and firing. Establish union-controlled job training and hiring halls in communities with high unemployment. All temporary workers to be made full-time, with equal pay and treatment. Voluntary retirement at age 55 with full benefits. No to the privatization of Social Security. End homelessness: quality housing for all, with rent fixed at not more than 10 percent of wages. For a massive program of public works to create jobs and housing, and to rebuild our infrastructure, inner cities and the Gulf Coast.

Free, quality health care for all

Eliminate the need for private health insurance and HMOs. For a socialized, national health care system. Free science from the narrow limits of the profit system. Full access for all to the latest medical technology, treatments, and discoveries. Massively fund research and treatment for AIDS, cancer and other curable and preventable diseases.  Nationalize the pharmaceutical and medical giants that squeeze their profits out of the health of working people.

Free, quality education for all

Fully fund and expand our public schools, colleges and universities. Repeal "No Child Left Behind" and end means testing. No to vouchers and privatization. End corporate encroachment into the classroom. End tuition fees and forgive student loans. For living grants and life-long learning for all.

For the immediate and unconditional legalization of all undocumented immigrants

Full rights and amnesty for immigrant workers and their families. End all racist immigration and asylum controls. For the right of residency and dual citizenship. For the right to speak one's own language. Access to Social Security with equal benefits for all. No to “guest worker” programs. For family reunification and an immediate end to raids and deportations. No to border walls, militarization, and repression on the border.  For the unity of the working class – the labor movement must be at the forefront of the struggle to improve conditions for all workers.

Outlaw all forms of discrimination – equal rights for all

Equal pay for work of equal value. Full paid leave for expectant mothers after the 1st trimester; parental leave for up to two years after birth or adoption with full pay. Free and safe, quality after-school programs and childcare facilities in the workplace. Affordable public laundry services and subsidized restaurants serving healthy, quality food to help free working women from domestic servitude. For full reproductive rights up to and including abortion. No to racist and anti-worker police, courts, and laws. End the phony war on drugs in the U.S. and internationally. Abolish the death penalty and release all political prisoners. Defend our civil liberties. No to attacks on our civil rights in the name of the “war on terror.” Mobilize the labor movement to combat racism and discrimination: workers' unity is the way forward.

A socialized plan of production for agriculture and natural resources

End the anarchy of the market in the resource industry. Nationalize the food distribution giants and agri-chemical companies that destroy farmers' livelihoods. For a voluntary socialized plan of production for farming that would protect small farmers' and agricultural workers' jobs and security.

Action to protect the environment and jobs

Only public ownership, democratic planning, and control of the land, major industries, oil, mining and logging companies, energy, and transport, using all available information and technology, can enable humanity to combat climate change. Environmental plans would be measured in generations, not fiscal quarters. Free and efficient public transportation for all.

Nationalization of the commanding heights of the economy: the major banks and corporations

Break with the chaos of the capitalist free market. Nationalize the Fortune 500. No compensation to the millionaires, only to those in genuine need. All nationalized enterprises to be run under democratic workers' control and management, and integrated in a socialist plan of production to meet the needs of society. For genuine freedom of expression. Nationalize the means of communication and democratize access to the media and the use of public meeting spaces on the basis of proportional representation.

Socialist Internationalism

End NAFTA, CAFTA and pull out of the WTO and other bankers' deals that are the tools of imperialist exploitation. No to the FTAA. Abolish the World Bank and International Monetary Fund and write off debts imposed by Wall Street and imperialism. For international economic cooperation based on the interests of working people, not a handful of multinationals. No to the war on working people at home and abroad. Cut the military budget: no to militarism and imperialism in the Middle East and around the world. Withdraw all troops from Iraq and Afghanistan now. End the embargo on Cuba. Hands Off Latin America! Unite with Canadian and Latin American workers in a Socialist Federation of the Americas as part of a World Socialist Federation.