Truest, Best, Fastest Way to Help MILLIONS of Illinois Workers; Gov. Rauner MUST SIGN NOW

SPRINGFIELD-Following is the statement of SEIU Healthcare Illinois President Greg Kelley following passage tonight in the Senate of Senate Bill 81, legislation to raise the minimum wage in Illinois to $15 by 2022.

“Today, the Senate boldly joined the House in the national march to a $15 minimum wage that has its roots RIGHT HERE in Illinois.

“More than 40 percent of Illinois workers across all industries, across all age ranges and across all points of Illinois, will benefit from a wage increase, including nearly HALF of all female and African American workers and more than 60 percent of Latino workers.

“Raising the wage IMMEDIATELY confronts so many of the problems facing our state, including the lack of proper revenue to fund needed services and education; the subsidization of corporations unwilling to pay workers a living wage; and the relocation of workers to neighboring states.

“But raising the wage is no abstraction. While leaders in Springfield bicker, a single mother working as a hotel maid in Peoria is choosing between diapers and food. Grandmothers in Belleville are sleeping on their friends’ couches, unable to afford their own apartment while working two jobs. A home care worker in Champaign is up at night worrying about either fixing a tire or paying his rent.

“We CANNOT let our state or our country accept a low-wage economy.

“Bruce Rauner says he “wants” Illinois workers to have higher wages, even while there is NO evidence of him leading a push to raise wages at the hundreds of companies under his control over the years.

“But let’s take him at his word: Nonpartisan research shows that raising the wage is the fastest, truest and best way to immediately improve the living conditions of workers.

“Senate Bill 81 now goes to Bruce Rauner and he must sign it. Workers across the state of all incomes should now be united in their call to, “RAISE THE WAGE.””

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Learn More at www.15forIllinois.org