Delivery protection fight in NYC

New York City just turned a fight over Amazon packages into a fight over who the employer really is. On April 9, the City Council held a hearing on Intro 518, a bill that would require companies like Amazon to directly employ delivery drivers instead of routing that work through contractors. (ny1.com) Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration backed the bill at that hearing, and the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection said “last-mile facilities” often subcontract core delivery work instead of hiring their own employees. The agency’s chief of staff, Carlos Ortiz, said that setup “externalizes costs” and liabilities and can produce labor violations and unsafe working conditions. (nyc.streetsblog.org) The workers driving Amazon-branded vans in Amazon uniforms usually do not technically work for Amazon. They work for small companies called Delivery Service Partners, which Amazon says are independent local businesses that hire more than 5,000 people in New York City. (aboutamazon.com) That distinction is the whole fight. Supporters of Intro 518 say the subcontracting layer lets Amazon control routes, pace, and branding while pushing legal risk and day-to-day employment responsibility onto smaller firms. (teamster.org) Amazon says the bill would wipe out more than 40 Delivery Service Partner businesses in the city and threaten the jobs of the 5,000-plus people they employ. In written testimony dated April 8, Amazon said it might even have to consider moving operations and delivery facilities outside New York City if the bill passes as written. (aboutamazon.com) Outside City Hall, the two sides showed up with opposite stories about the same vans. The Teamsters rallied Amazon drivers to support the bill, while a coalition called New York Delivers brought in owners and employees of Delivery Service Partners to oppose it. (prnewswire.com) (nyc.streetsblog.org) Streetsblog reported that New York Delivers bused in dozens of people and offered Delivery Service Partner workers $70 in Uber vouchers for trips to and from the hearing. Streetsblog also reported that Amazon is a sponsor of several member groups in that coalition, including the Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, and Manhattan chambers of commerce. (nyc.streetsblog.org) Supporters are not only talking about wages. A 2025 New York City comptroller report found that 14 of 18 large last-mile warehouses opened between 2017 and 2022 saw traffic collisions rise within a half-mile radius, and the report said injury rates at last-mile facilities were more than triple the national average for private employers. (comptroller.nyc.gov) Opponents say the bill would not just hit Amazon. A bike-delivery company owner told NY1 that the law would shut his business and affect 150 workers, and Amazon says Delivery Service Partners offer flexible scheduling, health coverage for full-time workers, and average wages near $24 an hour in New York City since January 2025. (ny1.com) (aboutamazon.com) The bill already has majority support in the City Council and is waiting for a committee vote before it can go to the full council. If it passes, New York City would be testing whether a delivery law can treat street safety, worker safety, and subcontracting as the same problem instead of three separate ones. (ny1.com)