{"id":201813,"date":"2026-04-18T16:38:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T16:38:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/201813\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T16:38:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T16:38:23","slug":"home-care-workers-launch-hunger-strike-as-24-hour-work-shifts-persist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/201813\/","title":{"rendered":"Home Care Workers Launch Hunger Strike as 24-Hour Work Shifts Persist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fifteen home health aides started what they called an indefinite hunger strike on Thursday after the City Council<\/a> failed to advance a bill banning 24-hour shifts, an issue that has roiled the mostly immigrant women working in the home care industry and the vulnerable patients who rely on their round-the-clock care.<\/p>\n

For more than a decade, live-in home care workers have sought to end state rules that allow 24-hour home care workers to be paid for only 13 hours a day. The 24-hour shifts are permitted as long as workers are allotted three hours for meals breaks and at least five hours of sleep without interruption.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Workers say they routinely work in the same home up to 96 straight hours without rest \u2014 while getting paid for only a fraction of that time.<\/p>\n

Outside City Hall, where workers have been protesting for nearly a month<\/a>, home health aide Yunfang Zhang, 70, said through an interpreter she is joining the hunger strike because \u201chome care workers cannot wait any longer, and our health has been destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot allow this to continue to the next generation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The battle over 24-hour shifts has scrambled a field of otherwise natural allies, pitting workers\u2019 rights<\/a> activists against advocates for disabled New Yorkers who rely on home care and, reportedly, Gov. Kathy Hochul<\/a> against Council Speaker Julie Menin<\/a> over questions of funding.<\/p>\n

The stalled bill, introduced by Councilmember Christopher Marte of Chinatown, seeks to replace the 24-hour shifts with 12-hour shifts performed by two different workers. But disability advocates and even some worker allies, including the city\u2019s worker protection agency, say the effort must be supported with additional state funding or it risks leaving vulnerable patients without care and workers without jobs.<\/p>\n

\"HomeHome care workers advocating for the end of 24-hour shifts started a hunger strike while occupying a sidewalk outside City Hall, April 16, 2026. Credit: Lilly Sabella\/THE CITY<\/p>\n

Workers say they have been pushed to take the desperate step of undertaking a hunger strike. <\/p>\n

About 40 workers holding \u201cStop the 24 Hr Workday\u201d signs sat on folding chairs beside the gates of City Hall in 85-degree weather. Fifteen of them began the hunger strike at 1:00 p.m. A previous hunger strike by about two dozen home care workers in 2024 ended after six days.<\/p>\n

Opponents argue the bill does not address how the proposed split shifts will be funded. Home care is heavily subsidized by state Medicaid dollars, which the city has no control over.<\/p>\n

Though Zohran Mamdani<\/a> said on the campaign trail that he supported <\/a>ending the 24-hour shifts, his mayoral administration has pushed back on Marte\u2019s bill over questions of how it will be funded.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Asked about Marte\u2019s bill last week, the mayor told THE CITY he\u2019s \u201clong been supportive of any effort to recognize the immense labor of home care workers,\u201d and would let the legislative process play out.<\/p>\n

Marte said he\u2019s \u201coptimistic\u201d that he, Menin, Hochul, and other stakeholders will soon nail down a deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re continuing to organize and to push to hopefully get it up to a vote,\u201d the next time lawmakers gather to pass legislation, said Marte. A bill he introduced in 2023 also failed to advance.<\/p>\n

Last month, more than a dozen disability rights advocates and legal organizations sent a letter to Mamdani and Menin opposing Marte\u2019s bill, saying it would \u201ccreate a home care crisis that would leave thousands of New Yorkers without the services they need<\/a> and would force them into hospitals, nursing institutions or shelters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jose Hernandez, 45, who has no mobility of his legs due to a childhood spinal injury, told THE CITY in a phone interview he supports the workers\u2019 struggle to be fully compensated. But he\u2019s concerned that without adequate funding, efforts to grant them relief will leave vulnerable patients behind.<\/p>\n

Hernandez, of the South Bronx, said living in a nursing home \u2014 the only recourse for disabled clients who lose their home health care \u2014 would be a \u201cfate worse than death\u201d that advocates and the disability community have fought for many years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re imprisoned in a nursing home for no reason but being disabled and needing help,\u201d he said. \u201cLike, I would lose everything: I would lose my apartment. I would lose every single possession, except the clothes that I have. I would lose my freedom, because I\u2019m not able to get in and out freely in a nursing home. I would lose my employment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI would lose everything \u2014 it\u2019s no different than a prisoner going into Rikers Island,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Estimates from 1199 SEIU, the leading union representing home care workers statewide, say that split shifts would cost an estimated $450 million annually in the five boroughs alone. Gov. Hochul warned Menin she won\u2019t pick up the tab, Documented reported<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Menin told reporters on Thursday that lawmakers are going back to the drawing board after talks with \u201ca variety of stakeholders.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look forward to sharing a new version of the bill with the governor\u2019s office,\u201d the speaker added.<\/p>\n

Home care programs are administered by organizations that receive state funding through Medicaid, over which the City Council has no control. State lawmakers have long opposed similar statewide proposals<\/a> to split up 24-hour shifts over concerns that, without additional funding, expanded worker protections could cause nonprofit agencies to risk insolvency, cost workers their jobs \u2014 and leave vulnerable patients without needed care.<\/p>\n

At a Feb. 18 hearing, a representative from the city\u2019s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection said the agency supported the intent of Marte\u2019s bill while expressing concerns that it could have unintended consequences for patients and workers.<\/p>\n

Disability advocates have accused Marte of freezing them out of discussions about the bill. They say that, as currently written, it would increase costs for patients and could force them into nursing homes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In an interview with THE CITY last month, Marte dismissed concerns about state funding for the bill and the estimated $450 million price tag was \u201cfear mongering.\u201d<\/p>\n

Disability advocates and patients who spoke with THE CITY said they had no idea Marte had reintroduced the bill this year<\/a> until a month after the Feb. 18 hearing.<\/p>\n

Marte called those assertions a \u201cfalse narrative\u201d aimed at\u00a0 his credibility and the credibility of the home care workers. He said he has an \u201copen door policy\u201d and that his hearing was heavily promoted on social media ahead of time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve spoken to every kind of stakeholder, even the ones who disagree with our bill,\u201d he said. \u201cI actually think that this bill is going to improve their care.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CouncilmemberCouncilmember Julie Won speaks at a rally for home care workers staging a hunger strike outside City Hall while advocating for the end of 24-hour shifts, April 16, 2026. Credit: Lilly Sabella\/THE CITY<\/p>\n

The issue has led to profound rifts between patient and worker advocates, to the frustration of some leaders on both sides.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sharon McLennon Wier, executive director of the Center for Independence of the Disabled New York, said her organization does \u201cnot oppose the fact that home health aides should be paid \u2014 we support that each and every hour of their work should be paid for.\u201d<\/p>\n

But she underscored concerns that without adequate funding, patients may end up back in nursing homes or institutions, harming their own independence and freedom and home health aides\u2019 job prospects.<\/p>\n

Katie Honan contributed reporting.<\/p>\n

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