FILE - Illinois State Capitol
The Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois.
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Illinois lawmakers want to lock in raises for more than 28,000 union members through 2022 at an estimated cost of more than $800 million.
The bill would spend $819 million over three years giving annual $1 raises to the state’s Community Care Program workers through the summer of 2022, when workers would get $24.69 per hour. It would also tie the next governor’s hands regarding any negotiation of benefits that the workers may already receive.
Home health care workers in Illinois were paid a mean hourly wage of $11.70 in May 2017, more than the national mean hourly wage of 11.46, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Gov. Bruce Rauner tried to implement a savings program for the service, but was overridden last summer as part of a budget that raised taxes.
The Service Employees International Union, or SEIU Healthcare Illinois, represents the workers. The home care workers were told in 2014 that they were not required to pay dues to SEIU after a Supreme Court ruling found it violated free speech rights.
“These services help seniors remain safely in homes while spending up to five times less than a nursing facility,” Sen. Mattie Hunter, D-Chicago, the bill’s sponsor, said Tuesday.
Republicans peppered Hunter with questions about where money for the raises would come from when the state is already overshooting it’s revenue estimates.
“It might be a good idea for us to sit down and try to figure out a budget before we go spending another $800 million,” Sen. Jim Oberweis, R-Sugar Grove, said.
State Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford, agreed.
“We have billions of dollars in unpaid bills,” Syverson said. “To have this record amount of increased spending without any revenue to fund it, I think, would be a mistake.”
The bill passed along party lines. It awaits a vote in the House before it could go to Rauner’s desk.