New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is throwing his support behind controversial legislation that would force Amazon and other delivery giants to directly employ thousands of drivers — despite warnings the policy will force Amazon outside the five boroughs and lead to slower, more expensive deliveries.
Mamdani on Monday backed the Teamsters-supported Delivery Protection Act, which would bar companies from subcontracting core warehouse and delivery work at last-mile facilities and require workers to be directly employed by the facility operator.
“Corporations like Amazon build billion-dollar business models by insulating themselves from accountability through a system of exploitative subcontracting,” the mayor said in a statement.
He called the bill “common-sense regulation that protects delivery workers, safeguards the communities where these facilities operate and ensures that the corporations benefiting from workers’ labor are responsible for the consequences of their business practices.”
However, the legislation would foist an extra $664 per year on New York households to get their goods, according to a study by consultancy AKRF.
“This law is just going to raise prices for consumers,” Business Council of New York State spokesperson Steve Smith told The Post on Monday.
Amazon, which works with more than 40 local Delivery Service Partners employing over 5,000 people in New York City, has warned that the legislation could prompt it to move delivery operations outside the city.
A retreat outside the city limits would result in deliveries that are not only significantly slower but also more costly, AKRF previously warned.
“We’re committed to creating good jobs, supporting our thousands of employees and local small business partners in New York City and providing fast, reliable delivery for New Yorkers,” Amazon spokeswoman Kelly A. Nantel told The Post.
“But as written, this legislation would directly undermine that commitment — threatening the small businesses that deliver to customers, putting the jobs of more than 5,000 of their employees at risk and forcing us to consider relocating delivery operations outside of the city.”
Opponents of the bill planned to mount their own show of force Monday, with package delivery workers and small-business owners planning a 1 p.m. press conference in East Harlem to urge city leaders to reject the measure.
The New York Delivers coalition said its members will gather at Thomas Jefferson Park to argue that Intro 518 threatens thousands of delivery jobs and small businesses while raising costs for New Yorkers.
The coalition claims as many as 10,000 city delivery jobs could be at risk if the legislation passes, including an estimated 3,500 last-mile delivery jobs in Harlem and four adjoining Council districts.
New York Delivers also said 82% of the last-mile delivery workforce does not have a college degree, and 84% is non-white. The group plans to feature delivery workers and small-business owners who say the legislation threatens their livelihoods.
The opposition event is scheduled for the same day that supporters of the Delivery Protection Act are stepping up pressure on the Council, sharpening the fight over legislation that would upend the subcontracting model used for last-mile deliveries in the city.
Rudy Cazares, a New York City native who operates an Amazon Delivery Service Partner and is also a FedEx contractor, told The Post the legislation would put him out of business.
“I would be shutting my business down. I have no business,” Cazares told The Post.
He said he currently employs roughly 130 people and hires more during peak times like the holidays. His drivers start at $23.75 an hour, with more experienced drivers earning as much as roughly $27 an hour, he said.
“All my employees are W2, either full time or part time with benefits, paying payroll taxes,” Cazares said.
He pushed back on the notion that companies like his merely provide a buffer between Amazon and its drivers, saying his company hires its own employees and operates its own vehicles.
“They control the sorting of the packages. They stage them for us. We pick them up and we go deliver them,” Cazares said of Amazon.
He acknowledged that Amazon pushes its delivery partners to find efficiencies, including through technology, but argued that city officials should address concerns about the system without eliminating the businesses themselves.
“There’s been no dialogue that includes the small businesses that are the ones making this happen,” Cazares said.
“This direct hire mandate will eliminate every small business out there that delivers packages for any business,” he added.
City officials have also urged caution over the measure.
“We want to make sure we don’t have unintended consequences,” Carlos Ortiz, deputy commissioner of external affairs for the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, said at an April Council hearing.
A spokesperson for Council Speaker Julie Menin previously said the Manhattan Democrat was waiting for the “bill to go through the legislative process, to receive input and engagement from stakeholders.”
“Amazon will say or do whatever it takes to deny workers stronger rights and wages and abdicate its responsibilities for its own employees, which is why journalists are obliged to expose these greedy corporate tactics and not serve as stenographers for the company’s anti-worker propaganda,” Matt McQuaid, a spokesperson for the Teamsters union, told The Post.
“With the rise of e-commerce, last-mile delivery facilities for shipping and logistics businesses have become an increasingly essential part of the infrastructure that keeps New York City running,” a FedEx spokesperson told The Post.
“FedEx is aware of the proposed bill and is working with the New York Delivers coalition. Any questions on the legislation can be directed to them.”