The rally of supporters called on New York City to follow a proposal to abolish a labor policy that would allow home caregivers to work 24 hours a day, but allow them to receive 13-hour payments.
AIW Campaign
Last month, a sunny day outside City Hall saw a rally of hundreds who were standing with us in support of reforms to our home health aides.
The organizers, set outside Manhattan's Chinatown suburbs, provided Cantonese translations. Throughout the protest, several LGBTQ people appeared as both participants and joint organizations.
The alliance led by the Union to fight for our health and living calls for abolishing labor policies that allow New York City to work 24 hours a day. You will receive 13 hours worth of payment.
They chanted “24 referring to a 24-hour working day,” expressing their frustration at City Council Adrian Adams. However, the issues can be more complicated than the city can address on its own. Interventions may require state intervention.
Regardless of liability, the systematic failure to protect the rights of these home care aides has irritated LGBTQ Chinatown activist leaders. Women of color, especially immigrant women, are most affected by such policies. Chinese staff and organizers of the Workers Association have discovered such a thing Workers are 90% women, 60% immigrants and 18% low income – And these numbers are backed up by Attorney General Letia James's office. Demography is not broken down by sexual orientation or gender representation.
In a 2021 report, New York State Assemblyman Ron Kim discovered that some of these women have been working for a long time. 96 hours of legally protected 5 hours of undisturbed sleep refused. Some worked $10 per hour, $6.50 less than the city's minimum wage, but many were denied overtime. Isn't she a woman? ! I collected reporters' voices and discovered them Many people experience physical and sometimes permanent injuries.
“(This) really has an impact on women of color. I'm sure many people are also in the LGBT community,” said Sarah Ahn, a proud campaign organizer at AIN'T IA Woman. Member of the Alliance to fight for campaigns and health and life. “We have our own responsibility and role to prevent LGBT representatives from using representatives, and we don't come out in favor of what we need.”
2022, Manhattan Councillor Christopher Marte Introduction to District 1 Intro 0175-2022called The No More 24 Act, and called for a limit to home care aides to a maximum of 12 hours on one shift or within 50 hours within a week. Under that proposal, additional time can be allocated to home care assistants in the event of an emergency.
In 2024, the bill was reintroduced as an int. 0615, and the updated version increased the 50-hour threshold to 56 hours. The bill has not been featured in the city council.
When asked to comment on the law, a spokesman for Speaker Adams argued that the responsibility for changing the law surrounding home care workers rests on the state, not the city.
“Speaker Adams supports increased wages and improved working conditions for home care workers that must be achieved at the state government level through power over Medicaid and home health regulations,” a city council spokesperson said. “That's why Adams sponsored a resolution passed by the City Council to support actions from the Legislature and the governor in order to achieve these fair results. Adams and council members strongly support the economic justice of these workers, but the fact is that the City Council cannot provide changes that require state action.”
The resolution passed unanimously through the city council, but int. 0615 has not moved yet. Despite speakers' claims about state actions, Marte's office argued that the city actually has the power to deal with the issue. His office said the bill was reviewed by the city council legal team before it was introduced.
The Legal Aid Association represented 140 home care aides who were not fully paid. The organization discovered a loophole between 24 hours split and 24 hours coverage, whether patients need to receive 24 hours of care, or the home care aid assistant room.
“Medicaid managed care plans often use live-in assumptions as a way to avoid allowing 24-hour split-shift coverage,” the organization wrote in its 2022 testimony. “(a) Gensie speculates that (“Live in Shift”) aides justify a funding scheme where an aide will not pay an aide for every time he actually works, in order to eat eight hours of shift sleep and three hours of shift meals. ”
For the bill to be fully effective, the Legal Aid Association has indicated that another 24 laws require reforms based on other states.
“Our clients (…) often face reductions and refusals to care that violate laws, regulations, or state policies or contracts,” the 2022 testimony stated. “(w) reforms to the state-level long-term management care system will result in agencies and employers evacuating consumers permitted with “live-in” services, and people simply do not receive medically necessary care. ”
Queer people within the Chinatown community view the battle for work and the battle for LGBTQ rights as the same.
“There are a lot of LGBTQ organizers like me.. “This whole system is driven by racism, sexism and homophobia.”
Casey Sheila, a transorganizer with youth, a youth group fighting evacuation in Chinatown, stressed that if LGBTQ individuals and immigrants can integrate around a common cause, they can bring about powerful change collectively.
“I think both immigrants and queer people are targeted a lot,” said Casey Sheila, a transorganizer with youth, a youth group fighting evacuation in Chinatown. “And we can create strength by coming together.”
