The Illinois Senate passed legislation that would block a plan to privatize more than 120 nursing jobs in state prisons.
Governor Bruce Rauner says his plan would save 8 million dollars per year. Private companies, in his view, can do the same work for cheaper. However, Democrats say that’s because private companies don’t pay their workers well. Four Republican senators, including Sam McCann from Plainview, agreed.
“Why can’t we be for working people?" he said. "Why would we let these nurses go, then hire them back the next day...for less.”
The Rauner administration says Illinois has been outsourcing other prison health services for 25 years.
