CHICAGO-Following is the statement of SEIU Healthcare Illinois Executive Board Co-Chair and family child care provider Faith Arnold, following bargaining today with the Rauner administration over contracts expiring June 30th that represent 33,000 child care workers:
“Yesterday, Bruce Rauner’s administration came to the bargaining table with poison-pill demands that would effectively strip 24,000 home healthcare workers of wages and rights. He did the exact same thing today with contracts expiring in days that represent 33,000 child care workers.
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“Gov. Rauner is making clear what he thinks of the dignity of a total of 57,000 Illinoisans who are some of the lowest-paid workers in the state and who serve its most vulnerable populations. An overwhelming majority of these workers are women and people of color.
“Rauner might have you believe that the current budget crisis is inevitable, but the demands he is making of 57,000 workers have little to do with savings in the short-term or long-term and the polls show a big and bipartisan majority of Illinoisans reject his demands.
"The cuts he's implementing on July 1st will keep low-income families from being able to enroll in the Child Care Assistance Program and leave thousands of families without the care they need in order to work.
“Bruce Rauner has brought us to the brink for purely political reasons. Once again, we urge him to return to the table in a way that reflects Illinois values.”
Contact: Graeme Zielinski, (312) 980-9128, Graeme.Zielinski@seiuhcil.org
