Here in New York, home health aides ended their six-day hunger strike Monday, during which they called on the city to end grueling 24-hour workdays. The home health workers, the majority of whom are women of color and immigrant women, have been demanding New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams bring the No More 24 Act to a vote. Democracy Now! spoke to some of the hunger strikers outside of City Hall.
Yayun Li: “For many of us working 24-hour workdays, we are forced to work these kinds of shifts, because if we refuse, then a company won’t assign us work. Only 24 hours or very few hours. So we really need to stop this kind of practice.”
Nujun Zhu: “We will continue to fight against the 24-hour workdays until Adrienne Adams passes the No More 24 Act to stop it; otherwise, she will have to step down.”