Howie Hawkins unveils labor agenda
Syracuse Post-Standard
Delen Goldberg
September 6th, 2008
http://www.syracuse.com/poststandard/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1220691563138180.xml&coll=1&thispage=2
Delen Goldberg
Green Populist Congressional candidate Howie Hawkins is sounding the battle cry for workers, urging them to band together to fight for reforms in labor law.
Hawkins, who is running in the 25th District, released a labor agenda today in which he outlined his ideas for making the workplace more friendly for employees.
Among Hawkins' ideas: Raise the minimum wage, end corporate welfare and enact a "Workers' Bill of Rights" that would protect laborers' rights to free speech, assembly and workplace safety.
Hawkins is a member of Teamsters Local 317 and works unloading trucks and rail cars at UPS. He is running against Democrat Dan Maffei and Republican Dale Sweetland to fill the seat being vacated by Rep. James Walsh.
Other agenda items advocated by Hawkins include six weeks paid vacation for workers, prohibiting mandatory overtime, taxing companies that use environmentally-harmful products, universal Medicare through a single public insurer and capping executive salaries at 20 times the salary of the lowest paid worker in the company.
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