Candidates Rick Krajewski and Nikil Saval Announce PA COVID-19 Recovery Platform for All of Us!
On Monday, April 6th, Rick Krajewski and Nikil Saval released their joint “COVID-19 Recovery Platform for Pennsylvania”. The campaigns have implemented programs to connect neighbors to mutual aid services through phone banking. Both teams have robust volunteer programs and have reached out to 62,000 voters so far this election cycle and 28,000 neighbors since the COVID-19 crisis ensued. The COVID-19 recovery platform follows the campaigns’ immediate response and proposes a larger vision for Pennsylvania amidst and after this crisis. None of the other candidates, including the incumbents in both races, have developed a recovery platform or launched mutual aid services.
Krajewski and Saval’s COVID19 Recovery Plan “For All of Us” is a wide-ranging platform encompassing issues related to economic justice, labor rights, mass incarceration, healthcare, housing, education, and a Green Stimulus. Some features of the current recovery have delivered versions of what our communities have needed for decades: expanded unemployment compensation; guaranteed paid leave; cost-free healthcares; a moratorium on evictions, rent and mortgages; the accelerated release of elderly and juvenile prisoners.
Economic Justice and Labor
COVID-19 is throwing countless fellow Pennsylvanians out of work: over a million people have filed for unemployment compensation, the highest number in any state, accounting for 20 percent of all unemployment claims (even though Pennsylvania only has four percent of the US workforce). Though many will receive meager assistance in the form of this compensation, thousands more, such as undocumented workers, will not be able to file. Gig workers, misclassified as independent contractors, also face enormous hurdles in their ability to get assistance and have access to healthcare.
Corporations will also use this as an opportunity to create a permanent change in the labor force, automating some positions out of existence and repressing already stagnant wages—unless we fight back. Workers are still reeling from the failed recovery from 2008, whose scars run across all our public goods—schools, universities, transit—and in years of lost income. We cannot afford to repeat that failure. Rick and Nikil support the following measures to to shift the balance of power toward our working class:
WORKERS EMERGENCY FUND:
Establish an emergency fund to give at least $2,000 in cash assistance to residents, regardless of immigration status. The state should establish an emergency fund that supports people who will fall outside of federal relief.
A TAX ON INCOME FROM WEALTH:
Following the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center’s “Fair Share Tax Plan,” Pennsylvania should increase its taxes on income from wealth, and raise $2.2 billion annually to support a progressive program.
EXPANSION OF UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS:
Pennsylvania should expand the maximum weekly eligibility for unemployment to extend through the duration of the COVID-19 crisis and one year beyond.
PAID LEAVE:
Pennsylvania should establish an immediate number of additional paid sick days—112 frontloaded hours—immediately for all workers and measures to cover lost wages retroactively. All workers, including hourly, domestic workers, and farmworkers, regardless of their documentation or status should be paid for time missed due to the coronavirus. In addition, the state should institute an immediate paid care leave plan of twelve weeks, through the creation of a social insurance fund that allows for anyone to take leave from work or other responsibilities in order to care for an ailing relative or friend.
RIGHT TO LABOR PEACE:
Any state money put into private enterprise to address this crisis requires those companies to respect the right of those workers to form a union. Furthermore, any private companies receiving aid must commit to re-hire their workforce under the same union contract as before the crisis. Any companies who wish to receive aid and do not have unionized workforces must immediately commit to paying workers at least $15/hr and providing full medical benefits and paid sick leave as a prerequisite to receiving aid.
Mass Liberation
There are over 47,000 people held in prisons and correctional facilities in Pennsylvania. 1,900 are over the age of 60, and countless prisoners have health conditions that put them at high risk if exposed to coronavirus.
There are only four ventilators in the entire Department of Corrections. They are currently in use at SCI-Laurel Highlands, a state facility that houses inmates that are elderly or have several illnesses.
We do not know what resources exist in our local Philadelphia jails, which currently house 4,800 people. With the woefully inadequate resources currently at the DOC’s and First Judicial District’s disposal, anything that does not result in a mass release of people from prisons and jails would be a grave mistake. We are facing a public health hazard that will affect inmates, staff, and family members. We call on the Department of Corrections, Governor Wolf, and the First Judicial District to enact the following:
EXPEDITED PAROLE HEARINGS FOR ALL CURRENTLY INCARCERATED PEOPLE:
The Parole Board must act swiftly to grant parole for all eligible prisoners. For those close to eligibility, an emergency process should be created to determine if they can qualify for early release. Now is a time for compassion, not draconian mindsets.
RELEASE ALL ELDERLY INCARCERATED PEOPLE AND PEOPLE WITH COMORBIDITIES:
No one should die in prison. Our elderly and infirm, who are confined to small spaces that could easily facilitate coronavirus transmission, would be devastated by a virus outbreak in one of our facilities. The state is not equipped to protect these people, and they should be released back to their communities.
IMMEDIATELY END ALL ICE DETENTION:
ICE is already a criminal agency that must be abolished. Detaining and separating families is in direct contradiction with the advice of medical professionals that recommend people stay home. They are taking away crucial resources, like masks and gloves, from our frontline workers who are combatting this crisis. ICE must decrease all activity immediately and Gov. Wolf must issue an emergency removal order (ERO) for the Berks Detention Facility.
FREE HEALTHCARE AND TESTING FOR CORONAVIRUS:
There should be no barrier to treatment for anyone incarcerated who is potentially infected. To prevent an outbreak, testing should be as accessible as possible, and anyone who tests positive should be provided treatment immediately and free of charge.
RELEASE ALL PEOPLE AND JUVENILES HELD PRE-TRIAL AND ON DETAINERS OR TECHNICAL VIOLATIONS:
The majority of people held in Philadelphia jails have not been convicted of a crime and are presumed innocent. This already immoral practice has the potential to lethally collide with a coronavirus outbreak in one of our jails. All people held, including those on cash bail and juveniles, should be released immediately.
A Green Stimulus Plan for Pennsylvania
COVID-19 has completely disrupted our lives as many people lose jobs and income, businesses are closed, and many people struggle to figure out how they’re going to pay rent and mortgages. We know that our lives will be disrupted even worse by catastrophes caused by climate change. A stimulus plan that bails out fossil fuel executives will only put profits into the hands of the wealthiest and entrench our reliance on fossil fuels. Our lives will be greatly improved by enacting a green stimulus plan, laid out below, to counteract the economic downturn and ensure a just recovery. The question isn’t whether we’ll need a major economic recovery stimulus, but what kind of stimulus we pursue. A green stimulus will help make our society and economy stronger and more resilient in the face of pandemic, recession, and climate emergency in the years ahead.
Pennsylvania needs a green stimulus.
The green stimulus is a plan for economic recovery from COVID-19 that centers on protecting Pennsylvanians from the impacts of climate change through the creation of millions of good, family-sustaining green jobs with high-road labor standards to lift up workers and frontline communities. A green stimulus will accelerate a just transition off fossil fuels and ensure a controlling stake for the public in all private sector bailout plans. The Pennsylvania state legislature must prepare now to make green projects “shovel ready” by enacting the planning work to ensure that physical projects can commence as soon as it is feasible to restart major in-person work across the economy.
END ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM:
Pennsylvania must create a climate equity fund that mandates 40 percent of benefits and investment during the transition be directed to frontline and vulnerable communities, including communities of color, the poor, and deindustrialized communities.
INVEST IN LOW-CARBON GREEN JOBS:
Expand the range of low-carbon jobs, by establishing tax credits for all green projects that employ union labor, and raise the standards of caregiving jobs: nannies, teachers, housekeepers, nurses, home care workers, and custodians.
INVEST IN RENEWABLE ENERGY AND END FOSSIL FUEL EXTRACTION:
Facilitate a rapid increase in renewable energy production, including by households and communities, through public ownership of and investment in our electric industry. Develop an off-ramp plan away from fossil fuels and towards the low-carbon economy we need. Pennsylvania must pass a Clean Energy Bill that creates a plan to transition to 100 percent energy efficiency and clean energy by 2030. This would include a plan to ensure that all workers maintain current salary and benefit levels, and are given priority placement in new green jobs produced by the stimulus.
INVEST IN ELECTRIFIED MASS TRANSIT:
Create a plan to expand mass transportation that is fare-free and accessible for seniors, people with disabilities, and rural communities. Electrify buses and expand access starting with black and brown communities.
Housing For All
COVID-19 is exacerbating our state’s already severe housing crisis. Already prior to this moment, 125,000 Philadelphians paid over half their income in homeownership costs or rent. That number is going to grow dramatically as thousands lose their jobs. We need immediate action to protect all residents. We also need to take major steps to protect housing insecure people in our city.
Rick and Nikil support the following measures on the state level to stabilize the housing crisis, as well as lay the groundwork for a more just housing future for all of us:
A MORTGAGE AND RENT MORATORIUM:
Thousands are going to miss mortgage and rent payments over the next few months. Though the courts are not processing evictions, and many Sheriff’s offices are not processing foreclosures, many of us will face late fees and plummeting credit scores for nonpayment, and eviction and foreclosure when the moratorium ends. We need to stop all of these: No payments. No late fees. No debt.
Pennsylvania’s Governor should enact an immediate mortgage forbearance program, modeled on the existing HEMAP program. It should also require that any landlord using the program be forbidden to charge rent or file for eviction. Such a program would cover most renters, homeowners and landlords, and forgive rent for millions.
Following the end of the moratorium, Pennsylvania should enact a freeze on rent increases for six months.
EXTENDING THE EVICTION MORATORIUM:
By Order of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, there is a moratorium on all eviction hearings and lockouts through April 3, 2020. It is clear by now that the public health risk will not have abated significantly—and may worsen—in the next two weeks such that the courts could safely reopen. This moratorium must be extended for 12 months past the end of the state of emergency.
UTILITY SHUT OFF MORATORIUM:
Pennsylvania associations—and their utility regulators, public power and water utility boards—should take immediate steps to implement a moratorium on all gas, electricity, and water utility shut-offs, waiver of all late-payment charges, and reinstitution of any services that have already been cut off due to nonpayment for at least one year past the end of the COVID-19 crisis.
DIRECT ASSISTANCE:
Pennsylvania should appropriate funds to provide direct assistance to Pennsylvania families in the forms of a rent subsidy, modeled on Philadelphia’s shallow rent subsidy: up to $500/month per person per household, and security deposit assistance to tenants to enable them to retain or find safe, decent housing. We should also expand rapid rehousing programs across the state.
A Safe and Equitable Education
After the 2008 financial crisis, our government responded by making severe funding cuts to our public education funding while giving tax breaks to the wealthy. We have felt the aftermath of this austerity measure ever since– our schools are overextended, understaffed, and long overdue for repairs. Philadelphia’s public schools already have unsafe conditions due to exposure to lead and asbestos. Any cleaning of our local schools due to coronavirus must include remediation of our classrooms’ existing toxic conditions.
We must also safeguard against any widening of learning gaps because of economic inequality. This means ensuring that all children are given adequate resources and attention for continued learning.
Lastly, public higher education and technical schools have also been devastated by the coronavirus outbreak. Any safety net must be extended to their faculty, workers, and students.
CLEAN OUR TOXIC SCHOOLS AND PAY WORKERS HAZARD PAY:
Any school cleaning for coronavirus should also include funding for lead and asbestos remediation. Staff dedicated to cleaning these sites should be given hazard pay compensation for their bravery in exposing themselves to unsafe conditions.
MORATORIUM ON CHARTER EXPANSION:
State funding must be directed towards our ailing public schools. Siphoning off more funding for charter schools will result in less collective resources for our School District to tackle this crisis head on, so we are calling for an indefinite moratorium on charter school expansion.
EQUITABLE CONTINUED LEARNING FOR OUR CHILDREN:
Children must have as uninterrupted of an education experience as possible. Laptops and internet access should be given to every student in need to facilitate their participation in virtual lessons. Any additional learning resources should be distributed evenly, with attention given to students with disabilities, students in poverty, students of color, and students facing homelessness.
EXTENDING WORKER PROTECTIONS TO HIGHER EDUCATION:
We are encouraged by the legislation introduced that guarantees pay and benefits coverage for anyone employed by the Philadelphia School District. We demand the same protections for our public higher education institutions and technical schools.
FORGIVE STUDENT LOAN DEBT:
To fully recover from this economic crisis, we need a clean slate. All student loan debt should be forgiven without penalty. No one should choose between paying off debt and buying groceries.
Healthcare for All
The COVID-19 crisis is a crisis of care. Our healthcare system is a monumental demonstration of how the insurance companies and many hospitals worship profits over people. People seeking care for a potentially fatal virus are assessed thousands of dollars if they lack healthcare. Decades of understaffing have led to a situation in which there are not nearly enough nurses to care for a burgeoning population of the ill (to say nothing of protective equipment for those nurses, and hospital beds for those that are ill).The lack of a single-payer and public hospital system is glaringly apparent.
Meanwhile caregivers for children and the elderly are on the frontlines of the crisis. Essential workers lack the means to afford necessary childcare, while most caregivers are out of work for the near future. Home health care aides lack most job protections, and are among the greatest risk of . Our lack of a system for long-term elder care with an aging population is also glaringly apparent.
Nikil and Rick support the following immediate measures:
SUSPEND MEDICAL DEBT:
The Pennsylvania Attorney General should move aggressively to suspend all medical debt for the duration of the crisis and the recovery. No one should be burdened with medical bills during this—or any—period. All treatment for COVID-19 should be delivered free of cost.
ESTABLISH PAID CARE LEAVE:
We should immediately institute a paid care leave plan of twelve weeks in Pennsylvania. This plan should guarantee 100% of earnings for all workers making 70% or less of the state average weekly wage (SAWW).
PRODUCE PRODUCTIVE EQUIPMENT:
In lieu of the Federal Government acting on the Defense Production Act, the Governor should use emergency powers to coordinate with other states to coordinate immediate production of protective equipment for all essential workers.
PUBLIC CONTROL OF HOSPITALS AND HEALTHCARE FACILITIES:
We are encouraged by the legislation introduced that guarantees pay and benefits coverage for anyone employed by the Philadelphia School District. We demand the same protections for our public higher education institutions and technical schools.
The Governor should move to take control of any private hospitals and other facilities in order to facilitate care, and re-open recently closed facilities, such as Hahnemann Hospital, as necessary.
EXPAND CHILD CARE RESOURCES:
Most workers lack access to affordable childcare, and essential workers are affected gravely by the high cost of care. Pennsylvania should ensure that all childcare costs faced by essential workers are covered by the state.