NYC NOW - January 23, 2024: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: January 23, 2024

New York City is launching a plan to wipe out medical debt for some low-income New Yorkers. Plus, New York City’s 911 operators will get a pay raise and more work flexibility after years of low morale. And finally, WNYC’s Karen Yi takes us to Yonkers where day laborers are teaching migrants about their rights and establishing minimum standards for all workers.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. I'm Jenae Pierre. New York City is launching an $18 million plan to wipe out medical debt for some low-income New Yorkers. The program will be run by RIP medical debt, a nonprofit charity with an unusual model. Allison Say-So leads the nonprofit. She says the program could erase $2 billion in debt by buying it for a nonprofit. from the secondary debt market. We're taking advantage of that pricing and that for-profit model

and that pricing that exists because of that market, except we're not trying to make any money back. We're trying to turn, we are turning it into a charitable purpose. The charity will select New Yorkers earning up to $120,000 a year for a family of four, and those whose medical debt equals 5% or more of their annual household income. City officials say the program could benefit

up to 500,000 people. For years, New York City's 911 operators, have reported low morale and rampant absenteeism. Now they're getting a pay raise and more flexible work schedules. WMYC's Samantha Max has the details. A new labor agreement will change dispatcher schedules, so they'll be working three or four longer days instead of five shorter ones, not including overtime.

911 operators will also be eligible for two $5,000 bonuses per year if they show up for work. Supervisors are going to get a big pay bump, and they'll work more hours each week. The deal follows complaints from dispatchers who told WNYC last year that their supervisors were routinely forcing them to work double shifts because so many people were calling out sick from work. City officials say the new contract will help with retention and attendance.

Stay close. We'll head to Yonkers after the break. Longtime immigrant workers and Yonkers are creating networks of support to guide new migrants seeking employment in the informal blue-collar economy. WMYC's Karen Yi recently set with day laborers teaching newcomers about their rights and establishing minimum standards for all workers. Hello, how old? Dmitro Cruz is looking for work. He's out in the cold among dozens of mostly immigrant men

who gather early in the morning along the main commercial corridor on Yonkers Avenue near a bus stop and a vacant deli. Cruz is waiting for potential employers to hire someone to paint, lay down floors, or do repair jobs. Sometimes the work can last a day or a week. Starting last summer, Cruz says he started noticing new, unfamiliar people waiting with him for work. They were migrants, staying at a nearby hotel shelter. He says most day laborers have gone through exactly what the new arrivals are experiencing now, desperate for work. lacking a winter coat, unsure of how to find work and vulnerable to abuse.

So instead of asking the new arrivals to go away and stand elsewhere, he turned to help. He says workers, even those who don't have much to offer, have a responsibility to help all newcomers and teach them. That's why he and other veteran day laborers have spent the last year educating new arrivals on the different pay rates for higher risk or more specialized work and warn them about customers notorious for not paying. In the last year and a half, more than 170,000 migrants have come to New York City. Thousands remain in the city's shelter system, including someplace at hotels and yonkers and White Plains. But even those eligible to legally work and live in the U.S. are facing chronic backlogs in the

immigration system, which means getting a work permit can take months, and securing a pathway to citizenship can take years. So more migrants are turning to under-the-table jobs, such as cleaning, construction, or street vending, just like the scores of immigrants who came before them. There's few opportunities and few channels for newly arrived immigrants to seek employment. Ligia Walpa is the executive director of the Workers' Justice Project, which organizes low-wage immigrant workers. One is finding a word of mouth or friend who might connect you with a potential employer. She says immigrants shut out of formal workplaces because they don't have a work permit or a green card have historically relied on the underground economy. But that also opens them up

to exploitation and abuse. 23-year-old Gabriel Mesa is staying with his family at a migrant shelter in White Plains. He says people were telling him to try his luck as a day laborer in yonkers. Mesa says it's tough. The work is sporadic. Sometimes he works for a day, but then doesn't work for the next three. But until he gets his work permit and with no easy access to transportation, he has few other options to earn money. Veteran day laborers say they understand. Many of them have spent decades without work authorization. 59-year-old Marco Rosales is one of the longtime painters on Yonkers Avenue.

He's been a painter for 22 years. He says he sees desperation when they haven't worked in days. That can lead to workers' exclaims. accepting poor working conditions or fighting for scarce jobs. The key factor is money, he says. There's always bills to pay. He adds that workers like him also have to be reasonable and fair. For example, if he's worked four days, he'll let a younger, less-experienced worker take one of his jobs.

Rosales and others see the advantage of having the new customers. If they all work collectively, they can improve their conditions and bargain for standard pay rates. It's how the day laborers here have looked out for each other in the past and plan to continue to do so for the newest New Yorkers. That's WMYC's Karen Yee. The new year is often seen as an opportunity to leave the past behind and start anew. As we move further into 2024, we're highlighting stories in our communities that focus on fresh starts. Today, we introduce Maroa. She's a high school teacher in the Bronx who found a career in education after navigating the foster care system.

My name is Maroa. I'm 24 years old. I'm currently a high school teacher at Dream Charter High School. Originally, I'm from Bangladesh. In 2008, I relocated to the United States with my biological family. When I came to New York, I was a... in the third grade and I didn't speak a word of English. So I had two ESL teachers that made a huge difference in my life. Over the course of approximately five years, I dedicated myself to acquiring proficiency in the English language, you know, ultimately influencing my decision to pursue as my major in college.

I was bullied a lot growing up. I didn't have the best childhood, didn't have the best home, and didn't have the best mentorship. For most of my life, it was just kind of like hell. When I was 16, I made a bold move to run away from home because it wasn't a safe place for me. I think every year I was just either growing or falling because not every year was successful for me.

I was homeless twice. And just to make it out of there was really, really, really difficult for me. Where I really found my solace was, you know, when I started looking into my faith a little more, I looked into Islam, and that really was just like a life changer for me. My academic journey was also very, very resourceful for me. Being able to graduate, it's really just almost surreal for me, and it's been really great to become a teacher, to be able to lead a large group of students, you know, who are figuring themselves out, you know, who may be in the same situation that I have. wasn't, just to see my reflection upon them, it helps me grow to as a person. I learn a lot

from them just as much as they do. I've always tried to reflect back into my past and just, you know, it really humbles me even with my own journey from being where I was to where I am now. You know, it's definitely a fresh start. Maroa is a teacher at Dream Charter High School in the Bronx. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday, three times a day. I'm Jenae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.