SEIU Local 73 Covers Springfield in Purple for Lobby Day

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Hundreds of SEIU Local 73 members clad in purple lobbied Illinois state legislators for unemployment equity, education funding and tier two pension system fixes on Wednesday.

The Unemployment Equity Act, which would provide unemployment insurance for K-12 support staff, passed the House Labor and Commerce Committee on Wednesday with the pressure of Local 73 members and leaders. They lobbied legislators, testified in support of the bill and rallied outside the state capitol.

“It is not fair that people work all year, and in the two months they’re off, they get no money,” said SEIU Local 73 President Dian Palmer.

Currently, K-12 support staff cannot receive unemployment insurance over the summer when they are not working- a discrepancy from many other school employees who can receive unemployment insurance over the summer break period.

HB 4416, the Unemployment Equity Act, would change that.

“We are destituted during the summer. There is no money,” said John Sanders, a special education classroom assistant and Local 73 member. He added, “We’re here today imploring you to give us the money that we need in order for us to survive during the summer.”

SEIU Local 73 lobbied the legislature in coalition with the Illinois Education Association, Chicago Teachers Union 1, the Illinois Federation of Teachers, the Illinois AFL-CIO, and AFSCME Council 31.

“No one should have to work two jobs to make ends meet, and we all deserve a living wage, so this legislation is the least we can do for our hardest-working education professionals,” said McCarrick Fitzgerald, a special education classroom assistant and Local 73 member.

The Unemployment Equity Act will now leave committee. Members can call their legislators and demand support for the act and other priorities by finding their legislator on Illinois’s “Find My Legislator” tool.