Support homecare workers in NY by signing this petition or taking action: https://www.nycaringmajority.org/
While it may sound like hyperbole, for some home care workers in New York the 24-hour shift is their reality. To keep their jobs, they must work 24 hours straight, often for multiple days in a week. And the toll it takes on them, both mentally and physically, is enough to raise concern across the country.
When we talk about home care workers, we are talking about those who provide direct care and assistance to the elderly. They spend their days with them in their houses or assisted living facilities, making sure they are safe and as comfortable as possible once they reach the point where they cannot be so on their own. It’s a noble calling, one that most would agree makes these workers worthy of accolades. Why, then, are they put into these inhumane positions in order to do their jobs?
The issue stems from some archaic worker protection laws in the state that allow companies to decide for themselves how much work counts as full time, how many hours their employees can work per day, and how many hours they can work in a week. This allows some corporations, particularly those that provide in-house support to the elderly, to require their employees to perform inhumanely long shifts. They are on the clock for full days at a time, given the choice between taking these shifts or ending up unemployed. Technically, they are afforded breaks during these hours of employment, but in practice they cannot take these breaks. For those working in geriatric care, their clients often have intense medical needs that require constant vigilance and do not allow for things like several hours of uninterrupted sleep. To make matters worse, this allows their employers to only pay them for 13 hours per shift (since they supposedly have the rest of their time off), when in reality they are often busy for the whole 24.
To add to the injustice of this already evil situation, the employees engaged in this work often end up with severe physical and mental detriments as a result of years of these shifts. Many of them report developing arthritis, worsening eyesight, knee and back problems, and generally a drastic decline in their body’s functioning way before it should naturally occur. And tragically, a lack of consistent sleep that goes on for that long can result in dementia and other disorders of the brain that lead these workers to need the exact kind of 24-hour care they once offered.
And it gets worse. The issue becomes entwined with race and gender inequality when you consider that the majority of these employees are older women of color. Specifically, “87 percent of direct care workers are women, 61 percent are people of color, 27 percent are immigrants, and 44 percent live in or near poverty” according to a study from PHI National. These are all groups that are already subjected to discrimination while searching for jobs and are therefore more at risk of being taken advantage of by abusive employers.
The outrage around this issue gained some public attention recently with a large demonstration outside New York City Hall. Home care workers and advocates for their rights gathered to make their voices known, anticipating a new bill that may provide some basic human rights to these people. The bill, which would impose a 12-hour legal limit for shifts in this industry, has support in the legislature but is currently blocked by representatives who oppose the protestors. Their given reasoning for opposing the change is that it would leave the home care industry short on workers and leave people in need of care without it. But this ignores the fact that the reason for a lack of employees in the industry is because of its abusive working conditions and changing them might actually entice more people to work in the field.
In reality, the reason for governmental opposition to this bill is probably linked to money. Several corporations that make use of these inhumane labor laws are also lobbyists within the New York governmental structure. People like Adrienne Adams, the current city council president, have a financial incentive to keep the cycle of abuse going. It is disgusting to realize how women of color and the elderly are being taken advantage of by those in power to make money off of their suffering.
And it is genuinely shocking to realize how little coverage this issue has received outside New York. This situation is clearly indicative of severe human rights violations and to pretty much any empathetic person who hears about it, there appears to be a clear moral and legal solution: establish reasonable hours for the employees. The 12-hour shift the protestors are asking for isn’t even that large of a difference in policy, since it would essentially allow for employees to work the same number of hours in a week, just separated by periods of off-time.
And yet, somehow, most people across the country have not heard about this issue. In an era where information is easier to access than ever and news spreads like wildfire, it is unthinkable that an injustice like this is allowed to continue its existence in one of the most populated areas of the country. And that is why anyone aware of what is happening now has a responsibility to spread awareness about this issue and make it so that New York legislators cannot ignore it any longer. With so many issues of worker’s rights and human rights violations, reaching a solution can seem impossible or off in the distant future. But it isn’t that way with this; it’s a matter of public awareness, and if enough people stand up to side with these abused workers, change will happen sooner rather than later. So, if you are reading this, I implore you, look further into the issue. Post about it on social media, talk about it with your friends, make your voice heard. Because right now, you really can bring about change.
LinkTree to support homecare workers in NY now: https://linktr.ee/caringmajority
