SEIU Members Rally for Healthcare

State Senate overwhelmingly passes bill to protect hospitals that serve low-income and uninsured families in Cook County

Over 650 health care and child care providers from SEIU Healthcare Locals 4, 20 and 880 came together in Springfield to rally for quality care. This was the first event uniting workers who will soon vote to create SEIU Healthcare Illinois & Indiana – a 90,000-member union representing hospital, long-term care and child care workers.
Members rallied in support of our Agenda for Quality Care, which includes:

• Protecting our “safety-net” hospitals. SB 1863 would release Medicaid money to private hospitals that serve low-income and uninsured families in Cook County.
• Fully funding quality long-term care services for seniors and people with disabilities.
• Improving wages and benefits for caregivers.
• Expanding access to quality care and early education for Illinois’ children.

“If these hospitals close their doors, it will mean that too many families will lose their health care safety net. It will mean no nearby ER, in the event of an emergency. It will mean our public hospitals-- which are already overburdened by huge numbers of patients in need will be taxed even more,” said Byron Hobbs, president of SEIU Local 20.

“Investing in quality care for our patients, our consumers and our children takes an investment in us-- the caregivers. No matter where we work, or what we do, we face the same challenges -- low wages and poor benefits."
Eighteen elected officials rallied with us to show their support for quality care and quality jobs. After the rally, members spoke one-on-one with members of the Illinois House and Senate about our top priorities for this year.

Following the event, the senate passed SB 1863 with a vote of 51- 0. The victory is not only an encouraging success for the new union, but also a critical win for working families in Illinois.