Quinn for Illinois

Further expanding Governor Pat Quinn's broad, diverse base of support, SEIU Illinois Council today announced its endorsement of Governor Quinn's campaign, recognizing his decades-long record of standing up for working families in Illinois.

At a news conference Monday morning in SEIU's Chicago offices, SEIU Illinois Council and Teamsters Joint Council 25-the state's two largest unions-announced they will join forces to campaign for Governor Quinn in the months leading up to the primary on Feb. 2, 2010.

"The members of SEIU work hard every day to provide health care, child care, and other critical services throughout the State of Illinois," Governor Quinn said.  "I am honored by the support of SEIU and the Teamsters. As we go forward, I look forward to working with SEIU, the Teamsters and their 270,000 Illinois members to reach our common goal of making Illinois government more honest and responsible."

 "Governor Quinn has been a fighter for working families all of his life," said Tom Balanoff, President of the SEIU Illinois Council, which represents 170,000 union members. "Pat Quinn is the right person to lead Illinois out of this recession.

"Pat Quinn is a governor who consistently listens to the issues affecting working families," said John T. Coli, president of Teamsters Joint Council 25, which announced its endorsement of Governor Quinn on Sept. 4.  "We look forward to working with SEIU to support Governor Quinn and his strong, common-sense leadership."

The two unions-which represent about one fourth of the Chicago metropolitan area's union households-worked together in the 2007 Chicago City Council election     

In remarks to SEIU members at a breakfast meeting before Monday's news conference, Governor Quinn - himself a former member of Teamsters Local 786 - thanked the union members for their effective, powerful support of his $31 billion Illinois Jobs Now! program, Illinois' first statewide capital construction effort in more than a decade.

"SEIU played a strong and effective role in winning passage of this critically important capital program," Quinn said.  "Today, Illinois Jobs Now! is putting our state back on the road to economic recovery, and I look forward to working with you as we invest in the infrastructure, and the future, of our state."

Over the next six years, Illinois Jobs Now! is expected to create and retain more than 439,000 jobs, helping to revive Illinois' ailing economy.