Illinois care workers celebrate higher paychecks in 2022 — a raise won by fighting together through their union
On January 1 of this year, 28,000 home care workers and 12,000 home child care workers got another raise. Home care workers contracted with the state of Illinois now make $16 per hour and home child care workers just received a 3.5% rate bump. Back in 2016, home care workers and child care workers were barely making enough to put food on the table. This major pay bump only happened because they came together and demanded it — and won the raises through their union.
For decades, home care and child care workers in Illinois have struggled to get by on poverty wages. When our union was formed more than 30 years ago, we began bringing workers together to use their collective power to shift that reality. Now, as we embark on 2022, home care and child care workers have a stronger measure of economic security to pay bills and maybe even save some money for the future.
It’s an impressive victory for workers who for too long were invisible in our society and economy. Here’s how they did it:
In late 2017, workers met with gubernatorial candidates to share their stories and create momentum for change. They told prospective lawmakers about how Illinois was facing a crisis of care and detailed their struggles to survive on less than $15 an hour. Then-candidate JB Pritzker even “walked a day” in child care worker Tunja Daniels’ shoes to hear how a living wage would transform her life. After hearing their stories, all the major gubernatorial candidates, including JB Pritzker, signed a pledge to invest in home and child care and raise wages for caregivers.
Once Governor Pritzker took office, workers came together to make sure he delivered on that pledge. Care workers shared personal stories in the media and at the bargaining table about how a living wage would change their lives, made phone calls to the governor, signed petitions and rallied in the streets, demanding a new contract and an investment in child care and home care.
Elected teams of home care and child care workers sat down at the bargaining table with the state of Illinois and fought for the strongest contracts possible, keeping fellow workers informed and engaged throughout the process. After months of work, we signed historic contracts that provided consistent raises to childcare and home care workers over a four-year period, including the raise that went into effect this month.
This new contract makes a big difference in the lives of Illinois workers like John Colley. When John first started as a home care worker nearly 15 years ago, he was barely making enough to survive. He worked multiple jobs to put food on the table while also caring for his mother, brother and sister full-time. He was often scared that he would fall asleep at the wheel while driving to and from work due to exhaustion. After fighting with his union for a living wage, John was able to stop working multiple jobs and fully focus on delivering the best care for his loved ones. The additional increase will even allow John to save for a rainy day, so he can stop living paycheck to paycheck.
People often ask me why they should join a union. This is just one example why. We fought hard for this new contract and it’s paying dividends, literally.
But that’s not all we’ve accomplished. By coming together in a union, we’ve won quality healthcare and access to training, so caregivers can provide the best care possible. We’re now fighting to make sure home and child care workers can get retirement benefits and paid leave so they can afford to care for their own families. We’ve made so much progress, but we still have a long way to go, and we won’t stop until workers are protected, respected, and paid what they deserve.
When we come together, we can demand a seat at the table and negotiate for better pay that respects the important work our frontline workers do. The more we come together, the stronger we become.
