South West Illinois News

Rep. Dave Severin (R-Benton) celebrated the recent agreement between the Illinois Department of Corrections (IODC) and the Illinois Nurses Association (INA) that will prevent the layoff of 124 nurses working in correctional facilities.

“When the layoffs were first announced, my Republican colleagues and I immediately asked the administration to reconsider by rescinding the layoffs and returning to the negotiating table,” Severin said, according to a press release. “So I’m pleased that the INA and the administration were able to come to an agreement that will allow these layoffs to be permanently avoided.”

The state had planned to subcontract the nurses’ jobs to Wexford Health Sources, a Pennsylvania-based company, in an effort to save $8 million, according to a report in the Southern Illinoisan. Instead, IDOC and INA have compromised on overtime, the creation of INA-only facilities and testing a 12-hour shift schedule.

“I appreciate the administration’s willingness to negotiate and offer reasonable solutions to solve the crisis and the nurse’s reciprocating and negotiating in good faith,” Severin said in the release. “The goal all along was for a compromise to be reached to permanently avoid the layoffs. So I’m pleased with the end result and hope that we see this kind of compromise in all areas of state government.”