Highlights from the Washington State Labor Council Constitutional Convention

The Washington State Labor Council Constitutional Convention took place July 16-18 in Wenatchee, beginning with a keynote address by President April Sims. Other keynote speakers included AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and newly elected SEIU President April Verrett.

Among the resolutions passed by the convention were two introduced by WSNA: one calling for tighter scrutiny and restrictions on healthcare consolidation, and one advocating for strengthened efforts to prevent workplace violence in healthcare, including increased employer accountability and stronger state agency enforcement.

The convention adopted a resolution on the war in Gaza. Two resolutions were introduced, offering different perspectives on framing the WSLC’s opposition to the war. The Resolutions Committee spent several hours reconciling the two resolutions. WSNA’s Director of Legal Affairs & Strategic Initiatives, Pamela Chandran, a member of the committee, played a key role in this process. The convention overwhelmingly adopted a unified resolution.

A resolution introduced by the executive board addressed efforts by anti-labor groups to target public-sector unions. Groups such as the Freedom Foundation continue to encourage members to resign from their unions. The resolution—developed in collaboration with WSNA and WFSE—calls for WSLC to coordinate a campaign with all affiliate unions representing public-sector workers.