More than 49,000 home child care providers in Illinois will be represented by the Service Employees International Union. The announcement was made Thursday after two weeks of voting in the largest union election in the state's history. Argentina Tanner is a home child care worker in Chicago. She says organizing was important to ensure child care providers receive the support they need from the state.

[Tanner]: Anyone who wants to do this type of work should be able to do so without the fear of being forced out of the daycare business because the rates are so low they can't support their own families.

Helen Miller is the President of SEIU Local 880, she says child care providers make sure kids get a good start in life.

[Miller]: They give our children hope and they help shape our future.