81 Days of Deadlock: NYC Speaker Says No More 24 Bill is Still Under Review

Home care workers were promised back in March that Intro. 303—Council Member Chris Marte’s bill banning round-the-clock shifts—would get a City Council vote. They’re still waiting. Photo/Joe Maniscalco

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By Joe Maniscalco

Eighty-one days have elapsed since New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin stood on the sidewalk with home care workers outside City Hall and promised to bring Intro. 303—the No More 24 bill—to the floor for a vote.

Since then, however, critics of the bill including District Council 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido and Mayor Zohran Mamdani have pressured Speaker Menin and Intro. 303 sponsor Chris Marte to—as Garrido said last month—“amend” or “kill” the No More 24 bill outright.

Garrido’s opposition to efforts aimed at banning the 24-hour workday in New York City’s home care industry have drawn serious backlash from members of his own union, however—the largest public sector union in the city.

“As retired and current DC[37] members, we stand firmly against the 24-hour workday and urge you not to perpetuate this abusive system,” a coalition of more than 10 DC37 locals and retirees wrote in an open letter to Speaker Menin earlier this month.

That backlash, so far, has failed to free the No More 24 bill from deadlock, however. Intro. 303 still has just 14 co-sponsors at the time of this writing, after several previous supporters including Council Members Farah Louis, Shahana Hanif, Sandy Nurse, Elsie Encarnacion, and Ty Hankerson all jumped ship.

Critics of the No More 24 bill, which also includes the Legal Aid Society, the New York City Central Labor Council, and some disability advocacy groups, call it “well-intentioned.” But they also insist banning the institutionalized wage theft that continues to allow employers to assign round-the-clock shifts to home care workers while only paying them for 13 hours, threatens to jeopardize necessary care.

And that’s largely because the private insurance companies baked into the Medicaid reimbursement system continue to have a financial incentive not to cover split 12-hour shifts.

Speaker Menin’s office told Work-Bites on Monday that the No More 24 bill was still being reviewed.

"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 via email. “As part of the legislative process, the Council has worked closely with stakeholders and made a number of revisions to the bill in response to feedback. Engagement remains ongoing as we continue to review the proposal.”

1199 SEIU represents most of New York City’s unionized home care workers—not DC37. An 1199 SEIU spokesperson reached for comment on this story told Work-Bites that the union hasn’t actually taken a position on the No More 24 bill and that it continues to believe home care workers should be paid for every hour they are at work—but will qualifications.

“Home care workers should be paid for every hour that they are required to be in the homes of consumers,” the union spokesperson told  Work-Bites in an email. “1199SEIU fully supports legislation ending 24-hour shifts that does not place unfair limitations on workers’ hard won right to earn overtime and includes full Medicaid funding for the additional hours to prevent consumers from being forced into nursing homes and subsequent job losses for their dedicated caregivers.”

Nevertheless, home care workers—some of whom are owed hundreds-of-thousands of dollars in some cases after working round-the-clock shifts for years—are celebrating active DC37 members and retirees who are openly challenging Garrido’s opposition to the No More 24 bill.

“Home care workers celebrate that DC37 rank and file have come out to join them in the fight to end the 24-hour work day,” a spokesperson for the Ain’t I a Woman campaign told Work-Bites in an email. “Together, we condemn DC37 leadership for their position taken against Intro. 303 and in support of modern-day slavery.  The bill has broad support from rank and file members across unions as well as lawyers, students, faith leaders and disabled people, all of whom agree that this torture must end immediately.”

The organization also renewed its call on Speaker Menin to “listen to the people and pass the original Intro. 303 as promised.”

Work-Bites has also reached out to Council Member Marte’s office for further comment on this story and is awaiting a response.