On April 15, 2013, the Northeast Alabama Labor Council in Gadsden endorsed HR 676, national single payer health care legislation sponsored by Congressman John Conyers.

President Garry “Gabby” Frost brought the resolution before the council in response to an appeal from the All Unions Committee for Single Payer Health Care–HR 676 and from Pippa Abston, MD, Ph D, a board member of Physicians for a National Health Program and a Huntsville, Alabama, pediatrician.

“Health care is a necessity not a privilege,” said President Frost after the adoption of the resolution for HR 676. “Everybody’s got to have it. This is the only industrialized nation that does not have it.”

The Northeast Alabama Labor Council is the 145th Central Labor Council to endorse HR 676. The council represents workers in nine counties, Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Cleburne, DeKalb, Etowah, Marshall, Randolph, and St. Clair. The Southwest Alabama Labor Council in Mobile and the Alabama State AFL-CIO had previously endorsed HR 676.

President Frost, who is the Business Manager of Local 498, United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters, reports that Local 498 has also endorsed HR 676. That brings the total of union organizations that have endorsed HR 676 to 600.

Dr. Pippa Abston commented on the importance of these union endorsements of HR 676. She said, “As an Alabama physician and Physicians for a National Health Program board member, I am thrilled to hear this news! Medicare for All is an achievable, practical way to address our healthcare needs and would go a long way towards relieving our state’s constant budget struggles. Thank you to our friends in Labor for helping bring HR 676 a step closer to success.”