Home care workers are ramping up protests to end 24-hour work shifts they liken to “torture” and to pressure New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin to advance a local law capping their shifts at 12 hours.<\/p>\n
A dozen current and former home care workers began a hunger strike last week to draw attention to their bid to end the 24-hour shifts, for which the workers say they also are undercompensated.<\/p>\n
The workers and their supporters have also protested in front of Menin\u2019s Upper East Side home and rallied in front of City Hall, urging the speaker to fulfill a pledge<\/a> she made to bring the bill to a vote. At a rally launching the hunger strike, protesters argued that 24-hour shifts are bad for workers\u2019 health and chanted, \u201cNo more torture! No more 24!\u201d<\/p>\n But the bill’s critics say the legislation risks disrupting the services thousands of elderly and disabled New Yorkers rely on to remain in their homes and to perform everyday tasks such as eating, bathing and getting out of bed. Menin\u2019s office said on Thursday there\u2019s no timeline for moving the legislation forward, despite her announcing support for the measure in the spring.<\/p>\n Home care is both a major industry in New York, employing more than 600,000<\/a> statewide as of last year, and a lifeline for many elderly and disabled New Yorkers.<\/p>\n While hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers on Medicaid receive home health services, those receiving care from aides working 24-hour shifts make up a much smaller segment \u2014 about 13,000 city residents as of 2022, according to state data obtained by the healthcare union 1199 SEIU and shared with Gothamist.<\/p>\n The conflict over the City Council bill is the latest episode in home care workers\u2019 decadelong fight against what they regard as exploitation baked into the shifts. Under state policy, the workers providing the care \u2014 many of them immigrant women of color \u2014 can be paid for just 13 hours of each 24-hour shift, based on the assumption that they will have eight hours of rest, at least five of which are uninterrupted, and three hours for meals.<\/p>\n Richard Blum, an attorney at the Legal Aid Society who represents both home care workers and people with disabilities, said the idea that workers are getting the rest they\u2019re entitled to under the law is often a \u201cfiction.\u201d<\/p>\n But Blum also has been one of the most vocal critics of the bill to ban 24-hour shifts in New York City.<\/p>\n \u201cThousands of people, very disabled people, would go without care, probably meaning that in most cases, they’d be institutionalized,\u201d Blum said.<\/p>\n The Legal Aid Society and 1199 SEIU \u2014 both of which represent home care workers in different contexts \u2014 have argued that any changes to 24-hour shifts need support from the state because home care is largely regulated and funded through the state-run Medicaid program.<\/p>\n Amid the conflict over the bill<\/a>, some city councilmembers revoked their support \u2014 it now has 14 sponsors, down from 17 in the spring. Mayor Zohran Mamdani advocated for an end to 24-hour shifts as a state assemblymember, but hasn\u2019t lent the bill his support since taking office.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Mamdani administration remains committed to working with the City Council and the state to ensure home care is adequately funded so we can strengthen protections for workers while preserving the high-quality care that patients and families rely on,\u201d said Cassio Mendoza, a spokesperson for the mayor.<\/p>\n