On March 9, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed the first contract for 49,000 family child care providers who joined together last year in SEIU Local 880.  SEIU providers negotiated with the state to improve services for the 200,000 children in their care.

The new agreement is expected to stem the loss of experienced providers in Illinois by providing better training, quality incentives, wage improvements, and first-time access to affordable health insurance for thousands of providers.