Care Workers Are Saying No to 24-Hour Workdays

"On May 1, 1886, hundreds of thousands of American workers walked off the job in protest of an eight-hour workday. In Chicago, these eight-hour workday protests culminated in the Haymarket Affair, when police sought to break up a rally near Haymarket Square, and a bomb was detonated in the process. The trial and martyrdom of the eight anarchists who were indicted, charged, and executed led to the formation of a day to recognize the labor struggle."

"One hundred and forty-four years later, on a brisk, sunny May Day afternoon in New York City, home care workers demonstrated outside City Hall, still campaigning for a fair workday. After all this time, a 24-hour workday still exists in this country in the 21st century-even in a deep-blue union town like New York City, which recently elected a self-proclaimed socialist mayor."

"The coalition was calling on City Hall to formally abolish 24-hour workdays in favor of a 12-hour limit. The speakers-among them workers, organizers, and elected officials-testified against the practice, along with addressing a litany of other pressing issues facing the Chinatown and Lower Manhattan area, such as healthcare access, housing costs, and the construction of a massive jail-complex in Chinatown."

"Despite differences in tone and allegiance to the mayor, the speeches coalesced around one central theme: The socialist mayor is colluding with Governor Kathy Hochul against a constituency of mostly women workers of color from South America and China-or at least failing to act on their behalf."

On May 1, 1886, American workers protested for an eight-hour workday, culminating in the Haymarket Affair in Chicago after police tried to disperse a rally and a bomb was detonated. The subsequent trial and execution of eight anarchists helped establish a day recognizing labor struggle. In New York City on May Day, home care workers demonstrated outside City Hall to campaign for a fair workday and to end 24-hour shifts. A coalition urged City Hall to abolish 24-hour workdays in favor of a 12-hour limit. Speakers also raised healthcare access, housing costs, and a large jail complex in Chinatown, while arguing that local leadership failed to support mostly women workers of color from South America and China.

Read at The Nation