State lawmakers want higher salaries for people who help the disabled

Posted on March 11, 2022
State Rep. Lakesia Collins (D-Chicago). (Dave Dahl/WJBC)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – Some of Illinois’ home healthcare workers say they are overdue for a raise.

Direct support personnel (DSP’s) who work in the homes of the disabled want another $3.50 per hour.

“As a former healthcare worker,” State Rep. Lakesia Collins (D-Chicago) said at a statehouse news conference Wednesday, “I know exactly how it feels to fight for something that is just so simple. We give everything that we have in us to make sure (our clients) are taken care of, and we’re shortchanged.”

The agencies who employ the workers say the state ties their hands.

“One of the things we take issue with,” said Illinois Association of Rehabilitation Facilities president Josh Evans, “is (the suggestion) that those dollars and cents are not invested in our workforce. I think we take direct issue with that. According to the data that’s gathered in national surveys, the rates of payment coming into service providers are going into direct services and supports by paying staff.”

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…