1984 STATE PLATFORM: LABOR AND FARM             PARTY
                        851


(2) Introduce legislation to extend unemployment compensation to all of the
unemployed.
(3) The cost of unemployment compensation improvements should be financed
by increasing the corporate
share of contributions.
  (c.) Prohibit forced overtime, require at least double time pay for voluntary
overtime, and shorten the work-
week without a cut in pay.
  (d.) Oppose further tax breaks for business and other government giveaways
to corporations unless such
benefits are linked directly to the creation of jobs at union wage levels.
  (e.) The state must place restrictions on plant closings and runaway shops.
Such restrictions might include
security bonding as a protection against possible future closings or moves,
special aids to abandoned commu-
nities, and a runaway shop tax. The latter would be levied on the company
owning the runaway shop (or its
parent company, if necessary) with its in-state assets serving as collateral.
The amount of the tax would equal
the cost of retraining (if necessary) and re-employing workers who had lost
their jobs as a result of a runaway
shop.
The state must also develop mechanisms which encourage worker and community
takeovers of abandoned
industrial facilities. For example, monies raised by the runaway shop tax
could be used to help fund such
takeovers.
In order to protect and promote public well-being, governmental units should
be encouraged to exercise their
power of eminent domain to take over plants that owners refuse to operate
or to sell. The governmental units
should thereafter democratically manage the operation of such plants.
  (f.) Enforce an absolute right of workers to refuse to work with toxic
substances, including nuclear
materials.
  (g.) Develop state purchasing, contracting, and investment policies which
encourage the unionization of all
workers.
  (h.) Not only resist current efforts to lower the minimum wage, which is
fast becoming the wage of the
majority of workers, but also push for its immediate increase to at least
five dollars per hour.
4. Economic Policy
  We believe that a progressive economic policy can break the cycle of boom
and bust. Democracy can and
must be applied as a principle within our economy. The concept of "Jobs
with Peace" must be a cornerstone of
future economic development as well as the recognition that we live in a
world that has limited natural
resources.
   Economic policies must be based upon human needs, not corporate greed.
Toward that end we support the
following points:
   (a.) Job creation must be the immediate goal of economic development plans.
   (b.) Economic plans must be devised in ways to make jobs fulfilling and
should be geared toward reduction
of the workweek and elimination of all dehumanizing work.
   (c.) Adequate levels of state-administered health and life insurance must
be available to all people.
   (d.) Workers must be given control over their pension funds.
   (e.) A state bank must be created. It must be designed to further the
goals of worker and community control
of economic development.
   (f.) State investments must be restricted to those which do not further
racism and oppression abroad nor
 union busting and discrimination in the United States. A significant portion
of state investments should be
 allocated to promote the other economic goals of this platform.
   (g.) So-called "high technology" development plans should be
scrutinized closely and should not be adopted
unless study reveals substantial community and workforce benefit.
   (h.) All economic development plans must be environmentally sound.
5. American Indians
   (a.) Treaties are sacred covenants which honor and respect the sovereignty
of tribes.
   (b.) Treaties signed by the United States government with Indian nations
are U.S. law, and where these
treaties have been abrogated the law has been broken, and the claims of the
tribes should be given prime
consideration.
   (c.) The form of government of tribes on their respective reservations
should not be determined by the states
 or the federal government but by the tribes themselves.
   (d.) Treaties signed by the tribes are with the federal government and
not with the states; however, a friendly
 spirit between tribes and states should be encouraged.
   (e.) Every effort should be made to assist Indian tribes in their goal
of economic self-sufficiency.
   (f.) American Indians have a right to educational opportunities and assistance.
   (g.) American Indians have the right to maintain cultural and religious
integrity and to keep their native
 languages alive. Indian pride should be encouraged.
   (h.) There is great cultural diversity among the various tribes and these
differences should be respected.
   (i.) Indians have a right not to be discriminated against because of race,
culture, or nationality.
   (j.) Tribal rights to treaty lands, to treaty resource access, to tax,
to regulate gambling, to enforce fishing,
 hunting, and conservation rules should be acknowledged by state agencies.
   (k.) Indian court decisions should receive full faith and credit in state
courts. (For example: when a tribal
 attorney successfully prosecutes nonresident offenders who dump refuse on
Indian lands.)
   (1.) State courts must fulfill their duty by federal law to notify the
appropriate tribe of impending Indian
child placement decisions and this duty should be carefully exercised.
6. Equality and the Struggle Against Racism
   We find that substantial numbers of people are economically disenfranchised
and otherwise under-
 represented in the rewarding areas of our society because of their race
or national origin. It is clear that such
 discrimination is based on past patterns, stereotypes, and insensitivities.
Despite significant improvements in
 the public consciousness about these problems, structural features continue
to keep discrimination alive and in
 many cases actually widen the economic gaps.
   In the absence of equality and a principled rejection of all forms of
discrimination, it is all too easy for labor