Home Care Workers Launch Hunger Strike Over 24-Hour Shift Mandates

A coalition of home care workers and labor advocates has launched a hunger strike to demand that City Council Speaker Julie Menin bring the 'No More 24 Act' to a floor vote. The proposed legislation would prohibit the common practice of 24-hour shifts, which supporters describe as physically and mentally unsustainable.

Under current state regulations, home care aides—a workforce largely comprised of immigrant women of color—are often compensated for only 13 hours of a 24-hour shift. This policy assumes that workers receive eight hours of rest and three hours for meals, a standard that critics like Richard Blum of the Legal Aid Society argue is often a "fiction" in practice. Protesters, some of whom have held rallies outside the Speaker’s residence, contend that the current system constitutes exploitation.

However, the bill faces significant opposition from disability rights advocates and legal organizations. Critics warn that mandating a 12-hour cap could jeopardize the stability of care for thousands of elderly and disabled New Yorkers. There are concerns that without a corresponding increase in state-level Medicaid funding to cover the cost of split shifts—estimated by 1199 SEIU to exceed $400 million annually—many patients could be forced into institutional care.

Legislative momentum for the bill appears to have stalled. The number of City Council sponsors has declined from 17 in the spring to 14 as of early August. While Councilmember Christopher Marte, the bill’s primary sponsor, has indicated he is in discussions with Governor Kathy Hochul’s administration regarding potential state-level support, the Governor’s office has declined to comment on the pending legislation.

Speaker Menin’s office stated on Thursday that there is currently no established timeline for moving the bill forward. Meanwhile, the administration of Mayor Zohran Mamdani has expressed a desire to balance worker protections with the preservation of high-quality care for patients, though it has not formally endorsed the current version of the legislation. As the hunger strike continues, the debate remains centered on whether the city can unilaterally reform labor standards in an industry that is primarily regulated and funded through state-run Medicaid programs.