What We Have are 24-Hour Shifts Samantha H Wing

What we have are 24-hour shifts.’ If you need to work, you do it.

Lai Yee Chan’s workday didn’t really begin or end. She woke up in a bed next to the one her client slept in, made him breakfast, bathed him, clothed him, cleaned the apartment and laundered his clothes. When her client had the energy, she would lift him into his wheelchair and take him to church or to hear music in nearby Columbus Park. His lunch and dinner were meals that she cooked, blended into the consistency of baby food, and fed to him. At night, while he slept she didn’t. She monitored his breathing, periodically helped him shift positions and changed him every two hours, the same as in the daytime.

In New York State, home care workers, many of whom are immigrant women of color, are forced to work 24-hour days. Their labor is undervalued and underpaid, as they are paid for 13 hours of a 24 hour shift.

Many seriously-ill seniors and people with disabilities need 24/7 care. They wake up in the middle of the night or don’t sleep at the regular hours home care workers are expected to go on break and rest. This is exhausting, with the lack of sleep leading to chronic illnesses, on top of being disproportionately affected by COVID-19 though not being considered frontline workers. At the beginning of the pandemic, they were not even provided personal protective equipment like masks by their employer companies or by Governor Cuomo. Long working hours for medical workers is also linked to increased patient mortality. This leads to more mistakes, decreasing the quality of care for patients who deserve safe care.

As home care worker Edith Guttierrez says “You’re in your patient’s home. You sleep with one eye open, one eye closed. You need to be alert. You’re always worried that something will happen to the patient. You feel anxious. You think, how many more days do I have when I can leave, sleep in my own bed, breathe the air outside, study? We’re human beings. If we rested, we could go back to work with more energy, more love.”

Most importantly, home care workers don’t take these shifts by choice. As home care worker Maria Rodriguez recalls, “They tell you, ‘We don’t have a day shift or a shift of a few hours. What we have are 24-hour shifts.’ If you need to work, you do it. You don’t have an option. It’s not because I want to, but you have to pay the rent.” Often the only jobs offered by home care agencies (like the ChineseAmerican Planning Council and the American Business Institute) are 24 hour shifts, otherwise they say they offer no other work.

By Samantha H Wing

The violations of home care workers’ rights were first fought against as far back as 2015 with the help of the worker-led “Ain’t I a Woman” campaign. Through long processes of failed bargaining with unions for backpay, lost wages, and excessive hours, the fight is still going on. Recently home care workers protested their healthcare union 1199SEIU for refusing to stand with them in support of ending the 24 hour workday. They also protested CPC, one of the largest social service entities within AsianAmerican community, calling on the organization to end racial violence, economic violence, and the exploitation of workers.

The fight to end the 24 hour workday unites everyone, those who believe in justice regardless of being from marginalized communities, those who care about the poor treatment of those just trying to make an honest living for themselves and their families, and those who understand how this movement connects to advocacy for every worker. The widespread struggle to take back the lack of control of time has been a common theme throughout labor organizing, like the historical push for traditional 8 hour workdays, though minorities, especially immigrants and women of color, have been left behind.

I’ve been volunteering with the Ain’t I a Woman campaign and learning more about the importance of promoting the voices of workers who are otherwise ignored. The organization is currently advocating in support of New York State bill S359/A3145A which ends the 24hour workday by mandating 12-hour non-sequential split shifts. I urge you to contact your New York State representative in support of the bill. You can learn more about the movement at https://www.aintiawoman.org/. As Martin Luther King Jr. said “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Vol. Xl, Issue I 9

https://www.laborpress.org/health-aides-hail-bill-to-ban-24-hour-shifts/