Big rally Saturday in Philadelphia, to begin to “change the conversation” to focus on the needs of working Americans. Read America’s Second Bill of Rights, which demands:
- Full employment and a living wage.
- Full participation in the political process.
- A voice at work.
- A quality education for all.
- A secure and healthy future.
Saturday the Workers Stand for America campaign launches.
At the rally, participants will be encouraged to sign America’s Second Bill of Rights and then call on lawmakers of both parties to add their signatures of support. It will also be presented to delegates at both the Democratic and Republican conventions and to candidates this fall.
If you can’t make it, the event will streamed live atwww.workersstandforamerica.com. Photos, updates and video from the event will appear in real-time on Facebook here. You can also follow on Twitter with the hash tag #ws4a. Updates will also be available on Pinterest here.
Click here to add your name to America’s Second Bill of Rights.
11 a.m. Saturday, August 11, 2012
Eakins Oval
26th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19130
Click here for bus and transportation information.
America’s Second Bill of Rights:
We the People want to strengthen our nation, as a beacon of equality, economic opportunity and freedom for all. We hold these rights to be essential to our vision of America and believe that the principles contained therein should guide our government, business leaders, organizations and individuals in our common goal of a just and fair society.
The Right to Full Employment and a Living Wage:
All Americans willing and able to work have the right to safe, gainful employment at a fair and livable wage. We call on the public and private sectors to invest in America’s infrastructure and promote industrial development, maintaining job creation as a top policy priority.
The Right to Full Participation in the Electoral Process:
Recent initiatives to disenfranchise citizens seek to reduce the rolls of eligible voters and empower money instead of people. We believe these actions constitute an assault on our nation’s democracy and history of heroic struggle against voting restrictions based upon property ownership, religion, race and gender and call for reinforcing our fundamental right to vote.
The Right to a Voice at Work:
All workers have the right of freedom of association in the workplace, including the right to collectively bargain with their employer to improve wages, benefits and working conditions.
The Right to a Quality Education:
Education is a fundamental bedrock of our democracy, vital to America’s competitive position in the world and the principal means by which citizens empower themselves to participate in our nation’s economic and political systems. Quality, affordable education should be universally available from pre-kindergarten to college level, including an expanded use of apprenticeships and specialty skills training to prepare Americans for the workplace.
The Right to a Secure, Healthy Future:
Americans have the right to a baseline level of health care, unemployment insurance and retirement security, all of which have been badly eroded by the disruption of the social compact that served the nation well for decades. We call on government and private industry together to confront the issues of declining access to health care especially for children, weakening of unemployment coverage, and inadequate pension plans that undermine the ability of working men and women to retire in dignity, even as Social Security and Medicare are under strain and threatened with cutbacks.
Click to Download the “Bill of Rights”in Printable PDF format.
I like FDR’s 2nd Bill of Rights better.