Who We Are
Home Care
More than 35,000 home care workers, home care aides and home health nursing professionals are united in SEIU Healthcare Illinois & Indiana. Every day, we provide essential care that helps keep tens of thousands of seniors and people with disabilities healthy and in their homes and communities. SEIU Healthcare members work as Personal Assistants, RNs, LPNs and CNAs in the Illinois Department of Human Services/Office of Rehabilitation Services, and as home care aides at agencies across the state that contract with the Illinois Department on Aging, and as RNs.
Illinois home care workers began uniting in SEIU in 1983. Before home care workers founded their union, many earned minimum wage or even less, with no benefits. But as home care workers built our union, we also built our political power. Year after year, hundreds of home care workers traveled to Springfield to fight for higher wages and healthcare. We worked with senior and disability rights advocates to expand Illinois’ home care program to more consumers. Between 1983 and 2001, our union grew from just 200 home care workers to more than 17,000 members.
- In 2002, more than 25,000 Personal Assistants, who provide care for people with disabilities, united in SEIU and won our first contract with the state for quality care and quality jobs—including 35% wage increases that slowed caregiver turnover.
- Home care workers kept the pressure on in Springfield to pass and fund rate increases targeted for wage increases of more than $1 per hour and first-ever healthcare for thousands of home care aides at Illinois home care agencies, beginning in 2008.
- Also in 2008, Personal Assistants won living wages and first-ever healthcare—and a path for hundreds of RNs, LPNs and CNAs in the DHS/ORS Maintenance Home Health Program to unite for a stronger voice for quality home care.
Today, home health aides in Indiana and home care providers in Kansas are joining the growing movement of caregivers for quality home care for all consumers, and living wages, healthcare and respect for the home care workforce.