Below is the strategic priorities resolution with the amendments adopted by the November 4 convention. Additional edits to the full platform and points of unity based on recommendations from the convention are currently being made by party leadership. Guided by: The need to win the political and governing power necessary to win a city and state that provides for the many, not the few.
Recognizing: That the pathway to securing this political power lies with the people, that we must recruit new people to our vision and strategy,and that the best way to do that is through issues that are widely and deeply felt.
Recognizing: That on these issues, we must offer alternatives to a harsh and narrow status quo in order to define the sides of the debate between us and our opponents and clarify the decision.
Recognizing: That our side of the debate must raise expectations for what elected officials should be doing and offer hope that things could be different.
We adopt the following strategic priorities, based on the party’s full platform and points of unity, in order to guide political endorsements, recruit members and build organization, and raise the party’s profile in the press and digital media:
- JOBS WITH DIGNITY TO STOP VIOLENCE: The cycle of layoffs, school closings, and violence pushes people of color out of the city and directly benefits the wealthiest. We can offer a real alternative by demanding a massive public sector jobs program to stop violence. These jobs must provide real living wages, the right to form unions and to strike, and opportunities for formerly incarcerated people.
- NO DEVELOPER DOLLARS: With gentrification on the rise and more people being priced out and pushed out of Chicago, UWF financial support should only go to endorsed candidates who refuse to accept campaign contributions from those who profit from displacement and gentrification.
- RENT CONTROL AND HOUSING: Rising rents are forcing poor and working people out of the city. City and state officials can and should take immediate action to protect renters and limit the amount that rent can be increased over time, as well as provide for evictions only with just cause, and for truly accessible housing for all.
- FREE EDUCATION FROM BIRTH TO COLLEGE: Child care, early childhood education, community colleges, and public universities should be a right provided by city and state government: universal, free, and public. This will reduce the strain on working families and create good jobs, with a particular focus on defending the rights to education of students with disabilities and English-language learners. We demand curriculum and content to education that respects our fights for social justice, to enable students to control their own destinies.
- MORATORIUM ON SCHOOL CLOSINGS, VOUCHERS, AND PRIVATIZATION: We need fully-funded, flourishing public schools, not more charter schools and school closings.
- CIVILIAN OVERSIGHT OF THE POLICE: We demand local, democratic supervision of police through elected civilian police boards that have real power to set priorities and enforce practices.
- TAX THE RICH: We demand a tax system that redistributes wealth and funds the public provision of basic rights such as jobs, schools, housing, and health care. Our demands include: a progressive income tax, a financial transaction tax, a corporate head tax, and closing the carried interest loophole.
- SANCTUARY FOR ALL: Stop the criminalization, incarceration, and removal of Black and Latinx people and immigrants by ending all coordination between local police and federal immigration agencies and eliminating the gang database.
- WOMENS’ RIGHTS: We demand action to change a culture that tolerates or condones sexual harassment, sexual assault and domestic violence in our city and state – including passage of the Equal Rights Amendment.
