At its 2025 convention held in Vancouver, WA, July 22-24, the Washington State Labor Council (WSLC) voted unanimously to fight cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, and to oppose the WISeR pilot program to expand prior authorization in Original Medicare.

The vote came on a resolution drafted by PSARA and also endorsed by RPEC, WASARA, AFGE 3937, AFSCME Council 28, AFT Washington, SIEU 775, SIEU 1199NW, MLK Labor, Pierce County Central Labor Council, APALA Seattle, and Pride At Work.

By passing the resolution, WSLC pledged

• that the Labor Movement in Washington will participate in the fight to stop the cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security and the additional attacks on these programs,

• that the Labor Movement in Washington will participate in the fight to halt the privatization of Medicare by supporting leveling the playing field between Traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage,

• that the Washington State Labor Council will send a letter to the State’s Congressional delegation urging them to oppose all cuts to Medicaid, Medi- care, and Social Security, the firing of workers and attacks on the administration of the Social Security program, the proposed expansion of prior authorization, and private profiteering in the Medicare program,

• that the Washington State Labor Council and its affiliates will help educate their members about the dangers of these attacks to the lives of all working people, children, and seniors and what they can do with their unions and allies to resist these attacks.

WSLC represents more than 650 local unions and other labor organizations and more than 600,000 workers. Their commitment to fight cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, and expanded prior authorization in Original Medicare adds a powerful voice to

our campaign to save our safety net programs.

As the WSLC resolution noted, “these three programs are foundational to the lives of not only union members, but all working people, children, and seniors…”

WSLC also recognized that “these attacks are designed to fund tax breaks for wealthy individuals and corporations in our country, to increase corporate profits and to undermine the functioning of these federal programs…”

The WISeR pilot program to expand prior authorization in Original Medicare is particularly egregious because it would pay private companies to review the medical care of Medicare beneficiaries and pay those companies on

the basis of how many procedures and services they denied. In other words, WISeR incentivizes denial of health care.

In action on a second resolution supported by PSARA, the WSLC voted to “urge our federal and state legislators to enact legislation that embodies the principles of a universal single payer healthcare system…”

The AFL-CIO has not endorsed the Medicare for All Act of 2025 – even though it is endorsed by 10 national and international unions – or the State Based Universal Health Care Act, and therefore the convention’s Resolutions Committee deleted explicit references to them from the resolution.

PSARA does support these proposed bills, and we believe they each embody the principles of a universal single payer system. We will continue to press for their adoption.

In the resolution, the WSLC also voted to refer the question of actually joining the Labor Campaign for Single Payer to its Executive Board. Labor Campaign for Single Payer is a coalition of 15 national or international unions, 8 AFL-CIO state federations, 5 central labor councils, and 8 state and local unions.

Its aim is summed up on its website: “The Labor Campaign believes that we will win healthcare for all when the labor movement commits all of its re- sources and organizing capacity to the fight for healthcare justice. Our job is to build the grassroots movement within labor that will make this happen.”

Just this year, the Washington State legislature passed Senate Joint Memo- rial 8004, asking the federal government to create a universal health care program or

• to partner with Washington State to implement a universal health system by passing legislation similar to the State Based Universal Health Care Act, or

• to grant Washington State waivers to remove restrictions on the state’s ability to create a universal health care system.

PSARA was ably represented at the WSLC convention by our delegate Rob- by Stern, President of the PSARA Edu- cation Fund and member of PSARA's Executive Board, and our alternate, Pam Crone, also a member of PSARA's Executive Board and Chair of our Government Relations Committee