The fight for a fair budget continues!

Our work to protect the people we care for isn't over yet.

     The constant pressure SEIU Healthcare
     Illinois and our community allies put
     on our elected officials this year
     stopped Springfield from passing a
     budget that would have destroyed
     home care, child care and countless
     other human service programs in
     Illinois—but our fight isn’t over yet.
     Instead of doing the responsible thing
     and passing a fair plan for new
     revenue, legislators passed a budget
     that stopped state services from
     shutting down, but will still mean deep
     cuts.

As SEIU Healthcare Illinois & Indiana President Keith Kelleher  explained moments after the vote:

“Instead of doing what needed to be done to protect vital services, lawmakers passed a dangerous budget that relies on borrowing billions of dollars and deep cuts to keep the state from shutting down. Tens of thousands of jobs and vital services have already been lost and the lives of tens of thousands of Illinois seniors, people with disabilities and children are still in serious jeopardy because our elected officials failed to find a long-term solution. In the weeks ahead, Illinois families are counting on their elected officials to take leadership in this crisis and do the responsible thing by passing a fair revenue plan that protects vital programs from devastating cuts once and for all.”
With no long-term plan to balance the budget on the table we must keep fighting to protect our jobs and the people we care for from devastating cuts. Until there’s a permanent solution to the state’s budget crisis—one that will protect vital care for good—we need to keep the pressure on our elected officials to do the right thing.

This year, SEIU Healthcare Illinois members made thousands of phone calls, participated  in events in legislative districts across the state and thousands of us traveled to Springfield to rally and lobby our elected officials face to face. In the coming months, we’ll be doing everything we can to make sure that members of the General Assembly know that their budget hurts Illinois families.

Stay tuned for information on how you can help.