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* According to the governor’s office, this money ($29+ million) has been held in an escrow account…
The State of Illinois and SEIU Healthcare Illinois reached an agreement to implement rate increases and release previously withheld increases for more than 40,000 Department of Human Services low-wage home care and child care providers that had been withheld under the former Rauner administration.
SEIU Healthcare Illinois and the Pritzker administration released the following statement announcing the agreement:
“Today marks a significant and long-anticipated step in repairing the years of damage and devastation that occurred under former Gov. Bruce Rauner’s leadership. This administration has shown that it will operate in compliance with court orders and the laws of the state. In that spirit, this agreement carries out a law passed by the General Assembly that Governor Rauner refused to comply with – on which the courts ruled against the State – regarding a wage increase for Home Services Program workers. The agreement also implements and ends litigation over a similar law providing a wage increase for child care providers.
“For 20 months, 28,000 Personal Assistants in the Department of Human Services’ Home Services Program have been denied a 48-cent raise. That’s because even after it became law, Governor Rauner refused to pay it, resulting in costly litigation and courts ruling that it must be paid. For eight months, 14,000 child care providers in the Child Care Assistance Program have been denied a 4.26% rate increase, even though it was also law. These caregivers provide valuable services to their communities, supporting independent living for people with disabilities and delivering quality child care so low-income working parents can remain in the workforce.
“Our agreement establishes a timeline for implementation of the mandated raises and for the release of back pay that is owed, ensuring the funding for these already approved increases finally gets into the pocketbooks of those it was intended for.
“Today, we are putting the State of Illinois back on the side of working families, and rebuilding the vital services and the workforces that deliver them to people with disabilities, working parents, and kids in every corner of our state. We look forward to continuing to stabilize these programs together, and we share a commitment to fixing other harmful Rauner policies through the bargaining process. We are committed to ensuring that our child care and home care workers have the stability and training they need to provide child care for working families and to support people with disabilities across the state.”
The governor’s office also says the workers will receive the increased pay beginning April 1 and should receive the back pay by the fall, once all the accounting is finalized.
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Mar 18, 19 @ 2:54 pm
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What a novel concept. Abiding by the law and the courts. Governor Rauner didn’t have a good record on that when it came to pay increases.
Comment by Demoralized Monday, Mar 18, 19 @ 2:59 pm
So many examples on the blog today of how - even once you’ve removed the problem - the damage is so hard to undo. He fought some of our lowest-paid workers for two years and now we pay the court costs in addition to their (deserved) backpay.
And for what? On 40-hours a week, it’s less than $1000/year per worker, but when we know that many Americans can’t put together $400 in an emergency, think what opportunities these families have missed out on or crises they could have averted.
So much of Rauner’s penny wise, pound foolish tactics feel like they were harm for harm’s sake.
Comment by lakeside Monday, Mar 18, 19 @ 3:13 pm
What about everyone else?
Comment by Wheres mine Monday, Mar 18, 19 @ 3:13 pm
I have a dear friend and Union brother who fought like a lion to win that 48 cent raise. At the AFSCME convention we roared and cheered him when he announced it from the podium.
These are angels
They do a really tough job
Caring for their customers
with dignity and love.
Again, the callous sociopathic behavior
that treats good people this way.
I’m just continually angry
That so many have sunk so low.
They are human beings who should be lauded
not numbers
not statistics
not liabilities.
Comment by Honeybear Monday, Mar 18, 19 @ 3:20 pm
All of this over 48 cents. These folks work hard. All of this pain over a rounding error. That is the legacy of GovJunk 1.4% .. good riddance.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Mar 18, 19 @ 3:31 pm
I like that folks pretend like state jobs are great jobs when public employees routinely have to go to court to to receive the income and benefits that they were promised.
Nothing says “great place to work” like the inability to trust management to pay you what they’re supposed to.
Comment by Anon Monday, Mar 18, 19 @ 4:46 pm
“Nothing says “great place to work” like the inability to trust management to pay you what they’re supposed to.”
There have been good administrations and there have been bad. The career employees learn to go with the flow. It is the employees who make working for the State worthwhile. Administrations come and go.
The most recent past administration went out of it way to make life miserable. And will be held up as the exemplar of a bad administration.
I remember my grandfather talking about working for the State during the depression, earning $125/month. There were times that the State didn’t have the money to pay the employees. However, the State eventually did make good on the missing pay. My grandfather was fortunate to have a big garden, was able to hunt and fish to help ease the hard times. I never heard him ever say anything negative about the State after he retired after 35 years of service.
Comment by Huh? Monday, Mar 18, 19 @ 5:32 pm
I really think Rauner did more damage in 4 years than Madigan could ever do to this state. Universities will take a generation to correct themselves.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Mar 18, 19 @ 6:55 pm