PEORIA, Ill. – A group of health care workers paid for by the state want a raise and better benefits.
The group of child care providers and Department of Rehabilitation Services workers – covered by the Service Employees International Union – rallied outside the state office inside One Technology Plaza Tuesday asking for $25 an hour along with benefits. It was one of three locations SEIU held what they called news conferences Tuesday. But, they also declined to take questions.
Members, though, were not shy about stating their case.
“We have to be paid and taken care of just like we’re taking care of others,” said Shalane Herrod, a child care worker. Herrod and others chanted prior to the news conference.
Ajay Turner has a Department of Rehabilitation Services worker come into his home helping him take care of medical and other needs, and says that worker is valuable.
“These services are…important for me, to my life,” said Turner. “Without them, I’ll be in a (assisted living or other) facility.”
The union members say they’ve lost a considerable number of employees over the last decade because they have not received good pay or benefits. Herrod is a child care provider, who says it’s hard to make ends meet, even as she is what she considered to be an essential employee.
Negotiations with the state and SEIU are said to be continuing.
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