Tentative first contract reached for home child care workers

The union representing 49,000 home child care providers reached atentative agreement with the state on its first contract -- a 39-month deal that boosts pay 35 percent, provides health care benefitsto some and includes incentives for training.

Providers who would be covered by the agreement, which is subjectto ratification, care for roughly 140,000 children across the statewhose parents are eligible for child care assistance so they canwork.

The contract agreement, announced Tuesday, will provide workerswith their first rate increase in seven years and "improve child careservice throughout Illinois," said Helen Miller, president of theService Employees …