Teamsters Prez Calls On Menin To Pass Mamdani-Backed Delivery Bill, But She’s Not Ready

Union leaders and Mayor Mamdani called again on Thursday for City Council Speaker Julie Menin to pass a bill that would make key street safety changes to Amazon’s business model — but Menin pushed back out of a concern that the company would increase costs to consumers.

Supporters of the so-called Delivery Protection Act gathered at City Hall to demand a vote on the bill, which would be sure to pass the 51-member body, thanks to its 34 co-sponsors and the full (and cinematic) backing of Mayor Mamdani. Teamsters President Sean O’Brien called out the Speaker for not fulfilling her “promise” to the labor group that supported her election.

“Unfortunately, too many times there’s a lot of promises made, like, ‘We will get that to a vote immediately,'” O’Brien said at the rally. “Keep your promises, don’t fall in love with corporate America. Speaker Menin, you need to do what the people want, the people that put you where you’re at.”

When the legislation was introduced by Council Member Tiffany Cabán (D-Astoria) last year, Menin was one of more than 30 Council members who signed on in support. After a hearing in April, the bill is still languishing on the desk of the Speaker, who has the sole power to bring it to a vote or not.

Pressed by reporters for a reaction to O’Brien and Mamdani’s demands, Menin said she has “concerns” about the bill in its current form and that it is being reviewed by the city Law Department.

“This is a very important bill. Obviously we need to protect these workers, there are enormous worker protection issues at stake,” said Menin. “We are in conversation with the Law Department, [it] sent over some additional red lines this morning I believe, or late last night.”

Menin would not elaborate on what “legal issues” her office is working to “resolve” with the city’s legal eagles.

The bill would have major implications for street safety considering that every Amazon van and cargo bike driver currently works not for the delivery behemoth, but for one of the company’s Delivery Service Partners, small businesses that shield the retail giant from liability in the event of a crash, supporters of the bill say.

Amazon-branded vans and trucks are constantly spotted illegally parking and creating illegal loading zones throughout the city.

The Alliance for a Greater New York, which supports the bill, created an interactive tool that shows that Amazon-associated delivery vans drew 14,290 tickets from cameras and traffic enforcement agents between July 2021 and June 2025.

On the other hand, Amazon is also one of the leading companies transitioning from dangerous, polluting trucks to greener and safer electric cargo bikes. But the company has threatened to pull its bikes out of the city if the bill passes, Streetsblog reported last month.

The bill would give the city more control over what types of vehicles Amazon sends onto the street through a required license. And eliminating the “Delivery Service Partner” model would create a pathway to unionization, a clear goal of the Teamsters, which could turn bike work into a more-stable and higher-paying job.

Amazon is fighting to preserve its current business model and is claiming that passing the act would raise costs for consumers, put the DSP’s out of business and cost their employees their jobs. The bill as written would require Amazon to offer the DSP workers jobs with the company.

“We’re trying to prevent that by working collaboratively with the City Council, and we’ve invited every member to visit our delivery stations and meet with these partners and their Delivery Associates before voting on legislation that could eliminate their businesses, displace thousands of New Yorkers from their jobs, and hurt people who count on fast and reliable delivery every day,” said company spokesperson Steve Kelly.

Kelly also disputed the notion that DSPs are a liability shield for Amazon.

“Amazon has always used outside companies to deliver packages — the US Postal Service, UPS, and FedEx among them,” he said in a statement sent over after initial publication of this story. “In 2018, we launched the DSP program to partner with small businesses and meet growing customer demand. It works because local entrepreneurs — people rooted in their communities — deliver a better experience. They invest in their teams, their routes, and their neighborhoods. That’s not a liability play. That’s operational excellence, built from the ground up. And this model isn’t unusual — it’s how businesses and governments operate every day. New York City routinely contracts with outside companies to build its infrastructure, run its school buses, and deliver social services. This legislation would single out one industry for restrictions the city doesn’t even apply to its own operations.”

Menin focused on consumers.

“At the same time we also want to make sure that consumer prices are not going to rise because that’s very very important, so we want to be able to address that concern. We also want to address the concern about these small businesses to make sure they’re not losing their business,” she told reporters.

Still, the Speaker said, she is confident that the Council can address all the issues with the bill.

“I’m committed to working on it,” she said.