Labor leaders for Illinois rehabilitation services workers say Gov. Bruce Rauner "continues to seek crisis" in their budget negotiations.

According to SEIU* Healthcare Illinois Executive Board Chair Flora Johnson, contract talks with the governor's administration went nowhere Tuesday. The union represents 24,000 state rehabilitation services workers, whose contracts expire on June 30. Here is a statement from Johnson issued late Tuesday afternoon: 

It's a sad day for our workers and for the seniors and people with disabilities they serve when they are left to bargain with a party who looks actively to be seeking an end to labor peace.

Bruce Rauner is making union-busting demands of our low-income workforce not to save money or improve the quality of care, but because he is seeking an outright crisis to justify a political end. This hardly justifies the real and immediate harm he's willing to let tens of thousands of Illinoisans endure.

We urge the governor to think of welfare of the citizens he's supposed to serve and return to the bargaining table soon with real solutions.

The union will continue contract negotiations with the state on Wednesday for other public employees.

* The SEIU Illinois Council sponsors this website.