After Founding Meeting in St. Louis ... Labor Unions Vow Stepped Up Pressure on Congress to Support 'Medicare for All' Approach to Healthc...( Over 150 labor leaders from across U....),Health

Over 150 labor leaders from across U.S. kick-off coordinated grassroots campaign for single payer healthcare

ST. LOUIS, Jan. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- More than 150 union leaders from 31 states gathered in St. Louis last weekend to step up a grassroots campaign to enact comprehensive national healthcare reform. The group is promoting a single-payer plan, which would work like an improved and expanded Medicare program to cover everyone.

The national kick-off meeting was convened by Labor for Single-Payer Healthcare, a campaign spearheaded by scores of trade union organizations. The national single-payer bill, HR 676 - expected to be reintroduced in Congress later this month - has been endorsed by 39 state AFL-CIO federations, 100 Central Labor Councils, and more than 400 local unions. The bill has 92 co-sponsors in Congress, more than any other health care reform bill.

In 2007, the national AFL-CIO Executive Council also adopted a resolution in support of the Medicare for All approach.

Speakers at the conference included three members of the national AFL-CIO Executive Council, three AFL-CIO state federation presidents, three Central Labor Council presidents along with many other major union leaders. A list of conference speakers is at the end of this news release.

Over the course of two days, delegates vigorously discussed strategies to promote single payer reform while also developing the new campaign's mission statement, governance structure and a grassroots action plan.

"Poll after poll shows that the public supports a Medicare for All approach, yet a lot of policy makers think it is politically unrealistic," said United Electrical Workers Regional President Carl Rosen, a leader of the recent occupation by workers at Republic Windows and Door in Chicago. "However our economic future depends on making the right policy choices on health care - and th
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