NEW YORK – A starvation strike exterior City Hall ended Monday after 5 days. 

It was designed to strain the town to finish to 24-hour shifts for well being care aides. 

There have been flowers and applause for the 20 ladies who ended their starvation strike. Lai Yee Chan, 69, mentioned she felt each exhausted and energized as she fought to finish 24-hour shifts in her chosen career. 

Speaking by means of a translator, she defined she has been a house well being aide for 22 years, and that the 24-hour shifts “took away my freedom.” 

“I’m doing this for the next generation,” she mentioned. 

“We either let 24-hour workdays drag us down into further and further misery, or we unite together and fight back against the system that only wants to kill us,” one speaker mentioned on the rally. 

The push is to ban 24-hour work shifts by means of a invoice within the City Council launched by Councilman Christopher Marte. 

“My mom worked 24 hour shifts as a home attendant for seven years. Sometimes she leave for three days and we wouldn’t see her,” Marte mentioned. “It’s greed, right? Insurance, companies in home care agencies are making money off the backs of these mostly immigrant women. They’re working 24 hour shifts, and only getting 13 hours of pay.” 

Some opponents of the invoice mentioned this ought to be dealt with on the state degree. Home care aides are allowed to work 24-hour shifts due to an interpretation of state regulation that claims 13 hours of pay for the shift is adequate. 

CBS New York has reached out to business representatives and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. A consultant for the Home Care Association of New York State informed us considerations concerning the invoice embody the ballooning of well being care prices and attainable gaps in service. 

Organizers mentioned it is a pause and never the top, and extra protest actions are deliberate, together with a big one for May Day.

The want for extra well being care aides continues to develop. 

“So we’re seeing this population that needs this care going up, and then we see a workforce population going down,” Marte mentioned. “No one should be working for 24 hour shifts.”

The starvation strikers say they’ll relaxation, re-energize after which they’re going to return.