Eight days of hunger

For Yunfang Zhang, the hardest part of her eight day hunger strike was the cold.

Even with handwarmers clutched in her hands and blankets piled on top of her, she said she never truly felt warm. 

Zhang was one of 15 home healthcare aides that began a hunger strike on April 16, an escalation in their ongoing campaign to pass the “No More 24” Act, which would ban the 24-hour shifts that many homecare workers undertake. The strike was called off April 23 when strikers were granted a meeting with representatives of City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who agreed to submit the bill, Intro 303, for a vote by May 14.

Many of those participating in the hunger strike were elderly women that had hypertension and diabetes, as well as a myriad of back and joint injuries from years toiling in the industry. They spent days and nights in the unseasonable cold, on flimsy folding chairs set up surrounding City Hall.

Volunteers set up tarps above them to protect them from the rain, brought them broth and water, helped them to the bathroom and worked to engage passersby about the issue. Zhang said having the support of the volunteers and her fellow hunger strikers was essential.

“If someone felt cold, the others would try to give them the extra blankets,” Zhang said through a translator. “We also cheer each other up.”

For Li Chen, another hunger striker, the impacts of the strike didn’t manifest immediately. 

“The first day was fine and then the second day I felt very hungry,” Chen said. “My blood pressure also raised a lot — to 180-something — so I didn't feel well.”

Dr. Steve Auerbach, a retired physician who helped monitor the workers during the strike, said that hunger strikes tend to get dangerous five days in.

Chen added that she hoped by putting themselves out in the open, it would more effectively expose what she and other homecare workers were going through. But it wasn’t easy, aside from the obvious hunger, both Chen and Zhang said that they dealt with dizziness and weakness during the strike. 

Strike was years in the making

One of the volunteers, Vic Galvan, a CUNY student, said that many of the workers they spoke to said the hunger strike was far easier than the 24-hour workday. 

As part of the 24-hour shift, workers are supposed to be guaranteed at least three hours of break time for meals and eight hours for sleep, five of which must be uninterrupted. But in practice, they say the constant demands of patient care mean these promises rarely materialize. 

Auerbach, who is also involved with the campaign to end the 24-our shifts in an advocacy capacity through the organizations Physicians for a National Health Act, NY and Health Justice for NY, argued that the practice is fundamentally wrong. 

“For those 24 hours, they cannot leave the home,” Auerbach said. “They are essentially held captives as a matter of contract, but they're only being paid for 13 of the hours.”

While this latest action lasted eight days the larger fight has lasted over a decade – this isn’t even Zhang’s first hunger strike. A number of progressive organizations and local politicians have coalesced behind the movement, but both Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Speaker Menin have been reluctant to throw their full weight behind the legislation. 

“Speaker Menin has long fought for strong worker protections and believes more must be done to prevent exploitation and ensure safe working conditions,” a spokesperson for Menin said in an email. “As part of the ongoing legislative process, the Council has sent an updated version of this bill to the mayoral administration for review, and we remain in constant communication with stakeholders throughout this process."

A spokesperson for Mamdani said in a statement that the work that home healthcare aides do is "critical," and that they "deserve predictable schedules and fair pay for the difficult labor they perform."

"The Mayor remains committed to working alongside home care workers, the Council, and the State government to pass stronger protections that improve working conditions for caregivers and ensure they can provide the high-quality care their patients deserve," the spokesperson said.

Workers are committed to ending the shifts

In March, Speaker Menin joined strikers, and she promised to introduce the bill in April, but ultimately chose not to, prompting the hunger strike. Several high profile disability rights organizations, the Legal Aid Society and powerful labor unions have advocated against passing the city's legislation, saying that additional labor expenses could cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars and potentially bankrupt some of the organizations that manage homecare workers. 

Auerbach shrugged these concerns off, saying that only a small portion of the more than 300,000 homecare workers are actually doing the 24-hour shifts. Allowing the practice to continue is a moral failing, and its only gone this far, he argued, because the majority of the workers are immigrant women who aren’t fluent in English, and are thus more vulnerable to exploitation.

Zhang, who immigrated to the U.S. from China in the 1990’s, described her working conditions as racist and sexist violence, and characterized working the 24-hour shifts as a “slow death.” She said that her homecare agency frequently put her in harmful situations.

Once, she said, her hands were badly swollen and her boss didn’t allow her to take time off. She had to work for ten more days before she was allowed to see a doctor. 

Though the hunger strike was difficult, Zhang said it was worth it if it could change conditions for herself and for the next generation.