On December 9th through December 11th, individuals from 18 different Occupations throughout Florida met in Orlando to brainstorm and draft a document, dubbed “The Peoples Plan”, which contained proposals pertaining to state issues. It is the intent of these Occupations to present “The Peoples Plan” to the Florida State Legislature on January 10th. It is the understanding of all Occupations present that the document drafted is to be examined, edited in any and all ways possible, and then finally brought to consensus at each local General Assembly. The end result will be a document that has been screened by all General Assemblies in Florida, and therefore can be said to be supported by most members of the Occupation on a state level.
Below is a version of this document, edited by a working group open to all, which will be brought the General Assembly for consensus in Tampa on Tuesday, December 27. It is the working group’s desire to allow everyone the ability to examine the work we have done and to amend “The Peoples Plan” to agree with their dispositions. It must be stressed that this revised version has not yet gotten consensus at the Tampa General Assembly and is simply what the working group intends to propose. The original proposals and more background information on the convention and the proposals themselves can be found in the forums section of peoplesconventionofflorida.org.
Labor
We the laboring 99% of Florida can no longer tolerate the increasing rate of exploitation and alienation
found in contemporary work. The security of those who are working, is undermined by the vast army
of awaiting unemployed, fueled by unprecedented rates of unemployment which threaten the
subsistence of the unemployed and the stability of the employed. As civilization advances, we may one
face a situation in which our current paradigm of work is obsolete. We must face this transition in such
a way to allow all people to live fulfilling lives. We would like to be proactive in order to be better
equipped to meet these challenges. To this effect below are some proposals to bring this to fruition.
1. The guarantee to a living wage.
2. A shift toward meaningful, ecologically sustainable employment.
3. An increase in public works to rebuild and restructure America’s infrastructure.
4. The protection of all workers rights, especially the right to organize.
5. That anti-worker legislation be eliminated such as
a. Union Gag bill which would eliminate automatic deductions for public worker unions
b. Attacks on state worker pensions
c. Efforts to decertify public worker unions
6. A stricter enforcement of workplace laws and stricter penalties for employers that violate these laws.
7. The protection of individuals who report workplace violations.
8. Ceasing the privatization of government jobs and services.
9. Since employers ought have no right to manage their employees personal lives, we should put an
end to violations of worker privacy including but not limited to drug testing, credit scores, social media
etc.
10. An end to the attacks on unemployed workers and their benefits and attacks on social safety nets
which protect workers in times of hardship.
11. The expansion and modernization of social safety net programs such as unemployment benefits
meant to protect workers and their families.
12. The repeal of right to work legislation.
Education
Our education system was designed to prepare an immigrant population for industrial labor. The world
has since changed, but the system has stagnated and fallen into decay. The new trend toward
privatization and career training is not the solution to this problem. What is needed is a system that
creates active free citizens, with a curriculum founded on critical thinking skills, that empowers
students to explore their interests. By shifting grade graduation to a per subject basis, we could have a
system where older and younger students work together and learn from one another. Curriculum could
also be based around larger community projects, with students going out directly into the community,
working to change the world around them.
1. Increasing State funding for education to at least the national average per capita.
2. Public universities, as well as all public institutions, should no longer do business with organizations
or entities that oppose or do not comply with fair labor standards.
3. For students and workers in publicly owned universities to have a greater voice in the management
of their university.
4. Standardized testing should not be used for determining school funding or teacher pay and should be
gradually phased out of the education system.
5. Private and federal student loans should be subject to the same consolidation and forgiveness
guidelines as federal student loans circa 1976.
6. For the distribution of state funding for K-12 Schooling to be allocated equally across the state by
school.
7. The expansion of individual teacher autonomy over their curriculum.
8. As it is inappropriate for state universities to be run by business interests the disbandment of board of
trustees in Universities should take place.
9. The presence of military recruiters on campus should be restricted to job fairs.
10. State run higher education should be free for those who have reached a certain grade point average.
11. Repealing the law which eliminated K-12 Teacher tenure and stopping
a. any future tenure laws which would repeal tenure for higher education officials.
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