Home healthcare workers resumed a hunger strike Tuesday in an attempt to pressure City Council Speaker Julie Menin to strike changes from the “No More 24 Act,” a bill that would prohibit 24-hour workdays for home health aides.
The aides want the original version of the bill, known as Intro. 303, brought to a full vote in the City Council. But members of Menin’s team told amNewYork that the speaker does not have a specific timeline for bringing the bill to a vote and stood behind the modifications to the proposed legislation, which they said would ensure a sustainable outcome for both workers and the patients they serve.
Outside City Hall on July 29, protesters with the Ain’t I A Woman Campaign — a coalition of home healthcare workers, retirees, workers’ rights advocates, and political organizations opposing the practice — charged that Menin’s actions amounted to “lies” and “betrayal.”
Luz Estrella worked 24-hour shifts as a home healthcare worker for more than a decade. She said all those years with constant sleep interruptions eventually contributed to her developing a heart condition.
“ That liar Menin showed her face to us, but made false promises,” Estrella said in Spanish.
Under a state law called the 13-hour rule, employers may schedule workers for a 24-hour shift, but only pay them for 13 hours, provided the employee gets an uninterrupted 8-hour break to sleep and 3 hours of meal breaks. Workers say this rarely happens and that they are constantly working during sleep and meal breaks at the expense of their own health.
The No More 24 Act, sponsored by City Council Member Christopher Marte (D-Manhattan), would require agencies to split round-the-clock care into two 12-hour shifts and prohibit agencies from scheduling any worker to a shift of more than 56 hours in a workweek.
Trey Good of the men’s group Brothas Express, which seeks to challenge patriarchal views in modern society, addressed the crowd Tuesday to support home healthcare workers who are overwhelmingly immigrant women of color.
“ Do we believe in a system that can only function by robbing the livelihoods of immigrant women of color?” Good asked the crowd. “Do we agree with insurance companies and Speaker Menin when they say we don’t have enough budget to end the 24-hour workday? “
Tensions over the bill escalated this spring once council support for the bill began to fracture, and a vote on the original bill, which Menin tentatively predicted for April, never materialized.
The failure to bring the bill to a vote on the expected timeline amounted to a broken promise for many workers and advocates, and sparked a week-long hunger strike.
The first strike was paused when the coalition announced it had struck a deal with Menin’s office to bring the bill to a vote in mid-May, but Menin’s office reportedly disputed the assertion that it had made any promises over specific timelines and negotiations continued.
Workers were further outraged when amendments to the bill created pathways for workers to “opt in” to 24-hour shifts and to obtain exemptions under a collective bargaining agreement. The coalition argued that these carve-outs put other workers at risk of being coerced into “opting in” to 24-hour workdays as a condition of employment.
Officials with Menin’s office, however, reiterated that the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) would have full power to investigate any coercive tactics. The bill includes steep penalties for employers found to be violating the law.
Menin’s office also emphasized that the speaker wanted to find a solution and was committed to fair pay and dignity for healthcare workers.
“Speaker Menin has long fought for stronger worker protections and remains focused on phasing out the 24-hour workday, an outdated practice that places workers under extreme physical and emotional strain,” a spokesperson for Menin’s office said. “There is more work to be done, and she encourages all stakeholders to come to the table to help identify a viable and sustainable path forward.”
Legal groups and disability advocates have strongly opposed the bill as originally written, saying it would create a “home care crisis that would leave thousands of New Yorkers without the services they need.”
Health policy research organization, KFF, has also warned of an upcoming home care crisis, attributed largely to poor recruitment, high attrition rates and steep cuts to Medicaid following the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill.
But for healthcare workers and their allies in NYC, worker justice and patient care are synonymous.
“ When we fail home care workers, we fail our patients,” said Helena Zeleke, a fourth-year medical student. “We force people to choose between their own health and caring for someone else’s child, parent, or grandparent.”