On Thursday, a coalition of labor rights and environmental groups will rally on the City Hall steps to support the re-introduction of Council Member Tiffany Cabán's Delivery Protection Act, which would force Amazon to directly hire its delivery drivers.
The bill had broad support last year from labor groups and 41 of the Council's 51 members from across the political spectrum, including now-Speaker Julie Menin. Amazon currently uses third-party Delivery Service Partners, or DSPs, to make its deliveries — a model that allows the company to skirt responsibility for its massive delivery operations. DSPs pop up and close down constantly, repeatedly forcing delivery drivers out of work.
None of the employees on the street making deliveries for Amazon — who wear Amazon uniforms and drive Amazon-branded vehicle — technically work for the company. Instead, they work for a DSP that leases Amazon-branded equipment and works out of "last mile" warehouses, often on an exclusive basis with the online retail giant.
On Wednesday, the day before the bill’s reintroduction, a new group of chambers of commerce and DSPs emerged to fight against the law, inaugurating their campaign with an op-ed in amNY from the heads of the Brooklyn and Queens chambers of commerce.
DSP workers at Amazon’s Maspeth warehouse unionized with the Teamsters back in 2024, and workers claim there is a link between the precarious employment model and traffic safety. Traffic injuries have increased near last-mile DSP warehouses, a report from the city comptroller's office found last year.
Thursday's rally starts at 10:30 a.m.
– Sophia Lebowitz
In other news:
- Mayor Mamdani's already changed his tune on the "Adams budget crisis" — turns out it's not as big as he warned, and about as big as experts predicted. (The City, NY Times)
- A hit-and-run BMW driver who killed a DoorDash worker in 2022 faced his day in court in Queens after being extradited from Germany. (Daily News)
- Move fast and break things: An illegal ride-share app is operating in the five boroughs without TLC authorization — under-cutting Uber while mimicking a strategy it employed in other cities in the 2010s. (Gothamist)
- DSNY's garbage can vendor is having "issues" getting mandatory bins to city property owners. (Patch)
- Is Assembly Member Bill Colton ready for the street safety improvements a safety study of Bath Avenue would propose? Or is he just stalling? (Brooklyn Paper)
- Writer Chris Person logged 3,000 Citi Bike Bike Angels points in seven months and bought a Nintendo Switch with the rewards. (Aftermath)
- TWU International won't back Gov. Hochul's re-election after she stood up to its bid to ban one-person train operation. (NY Post)
- New Council Member Justin Sanchez (D-Bronx) wants DEP to accept citizen idling complaints in more languages than English. (The Footprint)
- Former FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh wants Big Apple property owners to embrace safe e-bike battery charging. (Daily News)
- Gothamist exposed the city's growing unlicensed tow truck industry. (1, 2)
- Drivers in Westchester County are vandalizing each others' cars while warring over parking spots. (ABC7)
- Lower Manhattan NIMBYs are fighting a proposed on-street micro-hub delivery center (while doing loads of online shopping). (The Broadsheet)
- Mayor Mamdani is "digging into" the possibility of restoring weekend G train service to Forest Hills. (amNY)
- Street vendors celebrated finally winning 21,500 new vending permits. (The City)
