WHEREAS, we take on this challenge to preserve what the labor movement has fought for, what countless workers have died for and for what we believe our countries can become.
(1) We will be a union that always fights for social and economic justice in order to build better lives for all. People who work hard should earn family supporting wages. Reducing economic inequality is not only right; it is at the core of sustaining our economies.
(2) We will push to establish full employment, rejecting the notion that stagnating wages are the new norm. We will be a union that works hard for legislation that facilitates organizing so that all workers have the opportunity to bargain collectively.
(3) Our union will work in Canada and the United States to ensure that investments are made in infrastructure, education and technology. We will work as a union for policies that will revitalize a strong manufacturing base.
(4) We will always advocate for better healthcare and retirement security for all citizens. Security and dignity in retirement and access to quality medical care are fundamental, universal rights, regardless of an individual's economic circumstances.
(5) As a union, we will continue to fight to ensure that all levels of government are properly financed and empowered to ensure quality public services and education; provide effective regulation of our workplaces, marketplaces and economies; and protect us from environmental degradation. Governments at all levels have important roles to play in providing essential services, defending the vulnerable, encouraging environmental sustainability, facilitating economic growth and ensuring a fair and just society. We must have a progressive tax structure in which corporations and the wealthy also pay their fair share.
(6) Our union will support regulations on the financial sector and insist on corporate accountability. As long as our economic policy puts the interests of corporations before the interests of working people, corporate short-term profiteering and financial speculation will jeopardize our economic future.
(7) Trade agreements must include enforceable protections for workers and the environment as well as prohibitions against child labor, sweat shops, illegal subsidies, currency manipulation and other forms of unfair and illegal trade. We will fight to protect domestic jobs and eliminate tax incentives and loopholes that encourage corporations to invest abroad. Together, as a union we will promote a global economy in which the rights of all workers and the environment are protected, trade is fair and balanced and trade agreements do not undermine the rights of sovereign governments or ignore the impact of globalization on workers and the environment.