Care Campaign Update:

Alright, so a few things:

First off, my bad, I couldn't find the cord to my phone/I didn't really look hard enough for the cord until I got a new phone, and now the photo I promised about the flier on The Care Campaign is up.  Fancy?  Swift.

Secondly, because I didn't get the picture fixed in a reasonable amount of time, I decided to go get an interview with Bob Sandidge to make up for it.  As soon as everything is compiled proper, I'll be posting the interview on the blog.  I know, I'm so cool.

Finally, my company hinted to me in an e-mail on Monday that today and tomorrow, that I'm supposed to be calling Governor Quinn ((312) 814-2121) and telling him that 1.  "My name is Barry Petersen, I am a DSP in a community disability agency who needs a raise to support my family," and 2.  "Mr. Governor Quinn, please support the Care Campaign and include funding into your budget for a $1/hour wage increase".

(This final part will be the remainder of the post, heads up)

By hint, I mean that the e-mail told me that I 'had to'.  Apparently there's some sheet that I'm supposed to record when I made the call, and what my name is.  Now, for those of you who know me, I don't really like being told that I 'have to' do anything.  I don't mind doing rough work, and I'm willing to do less preferred jobs.  But the minute someone says 'mandatory', the first thought in my head is "or what?"

I think it's a familial thing.  We Petersens are stubborn assholes.

Also, they attached a note reminding me to do this thing onto my pay stub.

Now, the reason why everyone is all up in arms is because March 26th is when Governor Quinn will announce his budget, and (I believe)  SB 2604/HB 3698 are being deliberated upon.

I tried to find some information about the bills from an unbiased source (see: made a single Google search of the bills), and couldn't find much there.  However, if you want to read about them from OTHER biased sources, feel free to adventure through the links below:

Illinois Association of Rehabilitation Facilities:  SB 2604, HB 3698
AFSCME Council 31
PR Statement from Little City Foundation
The Arc of Illinois

Now, I'm not big on pushing politics, so I'm not going to tell you to do this, and frankly, I'd love to see more than just a synopsis of the bills before I told you all that things are kosher.  BUT I also really like cash money bling-bling.  So hey, if you want the people that pay out your taxes to pay for more of my paycheck, I'm all up for it.  Frankly, it is your duty as a citizen of the state of Illinois to make sure that more of your tax dollars end up in my bank account.  So feel free to go ahead and practice democracy to go make and me a wealthy man.

(P.S. For those of you confused about how tax dollars make it into my pocket when I work for a private institution and am not a government employee, stay tuned.  I plan to either have answers for how paraprofessionals get paid in an upcoming feature (most likely the interview))