Local Legislators Criticize Decision to Lay Off Nurses

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – As Governor Rauner moves to cut jobs by privatizing prison healthcare services, local legislators state Rep. Deb Conroy, D-Villa Park, and state Rep. Kathleen Willis, D-Addison, are condemning the layoff of over a hundred nurses across the state.

“Governor Rauner’s decision to cut these vital, good-paying jobs is a flagrant attack on organized labor and on the hardworking nurses who face losing the jobs that they rely on to support their families,” Willis said. “Yet again, Rauner is choosing to prioritize padding the profits of an out-of-state corporation over investing in Illinois families and public safety.”

Last week nurses from a dozen correctional facilities received layoff notices as the Rauner Administration announced that these positions would be filled by the private, out of state corporation Wexford. While some of the nurses currently working at the correctional facilities could be hired by Wexford, their wages would be slashed.

“The services that these nurses provide are vital to ensuring that individuals in correctional facilities are receiving the mental and physical healthcare treatments they need,” Conroy said. “It’s critical that these nurses have both the right to advocate for themselves and their patients through collective bargaining and adequate levels of funding for healthcare services to ensure the safety of everyone in these facilities.”