CCM Cristopher Marte with home attendants in front of his office
Home health attendants held a rally and announced a hunger strike to begin March 20. The attendants have held several rallies in the past with little success. Several members of the coalition will participate in the hunger strike in front of city hall where the past rallies were held. At the core of the fight is to end the 24hr workday.
Council speaker Adrienne Adams has accused some members of the city council of spreading false news. In a released statement intended to rebuke CCM Christopher Marte.
{Rendy Desamours, a spokesman for the City Council, said the effort was misdirected, because home health care is funded primarily through Medicaid, which is managed at the state level.
“It has been counterproductive and harmful to mislead people into believing that this can be resolved at the city level,” he said in a statement, adding that Adrienne Adams, the council speaker, planned to introduce a bill to urge the state legislature to improve working conditions for home care workers.)
CCM Marte is well aware that protesting at the city level is ineffective but with little to show in the way of achievements since he took office, he has to play to his supporters and endanger lives by encouraging them.