Economy

Good Jobs, Rebuilding from an Economic Crisis

Now more than ever, hard-working Texans need good jobs to support their families and invest in their retirement future. The national economic crisis that resulted from the failure of the previous Republican administration to regulate financial markets – in the name of “deregulation” – threatens the economic security of all Americans. Democrats are working to address the unemployment crisis by creating jobs for skilled workers. Republican policies, on the other hand, have cut and outsourced jobs, which is another reason we face tough economic times.

Democrats strongly believe in promoting entrepreneurship and consumer confidence through a market system that is checked and balanced by government to prevent financial abuses and excesses. By contrast, many Texas Republican politicians support a version of the free market system in which the highest-paid CEO’s make thousands of times more than their employees, even when there is evidence of gross corporate mismanagement.

To Strengthen Small Business, we believe state policy should foster the independent initiative of small businesses. The new Republican “margins tax,” which is effectively a small business income tax, burdens small businesses unfairly at the very time the Republican recession has left many struggling to survive. We believe the tax policies of the current Republican regime that unfairly favor big business at the expense of small businesses must be reversed.

The Information-Based Economy provides Texans an opportunity to prosper, and Democrats believe developing information technology should be a state priority. Democrats support educational opportunities to provide more Texans the skills needed to pursue careers in information technology and emerging technology development.

Unemployment Benefits could have been made available to more Texas workers during the 2009 legislative session.  But Republican Governor Rick Perry vowed to veto any expansion of benefits funded with half a billion federal stimulus dollars, despite the relief it offered to businesses in the form of lower unemployment insurance taxes.  In a time of economic crisis, Perry turned down funds that would have helped hard working Texans who lost their jobs, and his political gambit has forced thousands of small businesses to pay higher taxes.

We believe eligibility for unemployment compensation must be extended so individuals laid off by the recession who are honestly seeking work do not lose their homes, their health care, or their dignity because they cannot find jobs.

To Improve Wages and Working Conditions, we believe the minimum wage must be raised, enforced, and applied meaningfully across-the-board to restore lost purchasing power for all workers. It must be indexed to keep it from eroding again.  Employees should be paid a living wage with provisions for decent health care and retirement benefits. We also believe:

  • that laid off workers must be provided effective retraining;
  • state leaders should be held accountable for how well they prepare young people to enter the workforce;
  • the guarantee of overtime pay, which is constantly under Republican assault, must be preserved;
  • local wage standards in government contracts must be protected;
  • workers have a right to a safe workplace, free from injury and exposure to harmful materials, and meaningful sanctions must apply to employers who knowingly or negligently expose workers to injury or death;
  • workers and employers both benefit from a workers’ compensation system that provides affordable coverage for employers, meaningful compensation to injured workers, the right of workers to choose their own doctor, incentives for employers to retain injured employees, and due consideration for the rights of workers within the legal system;
  • all employees, public and private, must have the right to organize, collect dues, designate their income voluntarily to organizations and agencies of their choosing, and negotiate collectively with their employers through representatives of their choice;
  • the so-called Texas “right-to-work” law – which does not protect the right to work – must be repealed;
  • hiring of replacement workers for employees who are on strike should be banned;
  • the Employee Free Choice Act should become law in order to allow workers to choose a union that can negotiate an employment contract that establishes wages, benefits and working conditions;
  • the right of unions to engage in political activity must not be infringed;
  • workers should be free from discriminatory employment practices and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act should become law;
  • no person should be fired, lose seniority, be demoted, or suffer other reprisal for refusing to work when a violation of OSHA regulations places his or her health, life, or limb at risk; and
  • state and federal law should provide real protection to whistleblowers who expose wrongdoing and unsafe practices.

To Make Government/Business Relationships Serve the Common Good, we believe companies receiving government economic development subsidies must deliver the jobs they promise. We also believe:

  • competitive performance and accountability in state government are vital, but we oppose privatization schemes that simply reduce wages and benefits for workers in order to reward private companies with a profit at the expense of taxpayers;
  • the Legislature should ban the improper use of “no-bid contracts;”
  • “non-compete” contracts that place the financial interests of private toll road operators over the interests of the public should be prohibited;
  • the U.S. space program, including both manned and unmanned flight and the revitalized International Space Station, serves as a catalyst for investment in scientific research that is essential to both national security and success in the global economy, and it should be supported and continued;
  • regulation of banks, utilities, and insurance carriers must be improved and antitrust laws must be aggressively enforced;
  • specific regulation of the banking and mortgage industry must be enacted to protect the public from the kind of excesses experienced in the sub-prime mortgage crisis, and emergency action must be taken to prevent those trapped by this crisis from losing their homes; and
  • an outright ban should be enacted on abusive insurance practices and scams.

To hold irresponsible Wall Street speculators accountable for wrongful conduct that has contributed to a financial crisis that damaged the State of Texas and its citizens, Texas Democrats believe Texas taxpayers are entitled to economic recovery. We endorse the initiative by Attorney General nominee Barbara Ann Radnofsky to take State legal action to recover these losses on our behalf.

To rebuild our American infrastructure, Texas Democrats support a requirement that public funds and contracts be awarded to American companies that use American workers who have a vested interest in the security and prosperity of our nation. For a generation, America has neglected its public infrastructure: roads, bridges, railroads, ports, water and sewer systems, schools, parks and libraries. We support a federal initiative to foster a sustained increase in public capital investment. We must not only increase funding to maintain aging infrastructure, but also to build new and more reliable public works.

To keep jobs here at home, state government should “Buy Texas” and “Buy American” by making it a priority to award contracts and purchase products from Texas and American companies. For too long, Republicans in state government have awarded contracts to foreign companies, including a Spanish toll road operator and an offshore call center that grossly mismanaged CHIP enrollment. Texas Democrats believe it is “good business” for state government to contract with Texas and American companies to the extent possible.

To address the high cost of food and energy, we call on the Federal Trade Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department to investigate speculative manipulation of the food, fuel and metals markets. We call on the federal government to reconstruct price-stabilizing food stockpiles, especially in parts of the world where commodity price speculation has led to famine.

To foster fair global trade, we must end “cheap labor Republican” policies that out-source jobs and encourage offshore tax shelters. Trade policy must combat child and slave labor, sweatshops, environmental degradation and other practices that turn global trade into a race to the bottom. We recognize the value of trade with our neighbor Mexico and the world. A reformed trade policy should ”level up” wages and working conditions by ensuring that foreign workers share in their country’s economic gains and become customers for American goods.