The coalition provided DSP workers with $70 in Uber vouchers to get them to and from the Council\u2019s hearing on the bill. Workers who wear Amazon uniforms and drive Amazon-branded vans while delivering Amazon goods, don\u2019t technically work for the e-commerce giant, but the third party Delivery Service Partners<\/a> or DSPs. <\/p>\n \u201cLast-mile facilities frequently subcontract much of their core delivery work instead of hiring their own employees to do the work,\u201d Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Chief of Staff Carlos Ortiz testified on Thursday. \u201cThis model externalizes costs, as well as liabilities, which can lead to labor violations and the exploitation of workers in unsafe working environments.\u201d<\/p>\n That model allows Amazon to skirt responsibility for the driving behavior of workers delivering its products, according to critics whose ranks now include the DCWP, which backed the bill at Thursday\u2019s hearing. The streets surrounding 14 out of the 18 newest last-mile warehouses experienced a 10-percent increase in crashes, the city comptroller\u2019s office reported<\/a> last year. In Maspeth, Queens, crashes rose by 53 percent and 48 percent, respectively, around two DSP locations.<\/p>\n New York Delivers<\/a> bused in workers for Thursday\u2019s rally and hearing from two DSP facilities in the Bronx, Cazar Logistics<\/a> and AlphaLogix Delivery, according to a coalition document obtained by Streetsblog. New York Delivers<\/a> does not list Amazon as a sponsor, but the retail giant does sponsor several of its member organizations: Amazon is listed as a \u201cmajor\u201d sponsor of the Que<\/a>ens<\/a>, Brooklyn<\/a> and Bronx<\/a> chambers of Commerce, while the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce includes the company in its \u201cChairman\u2019s Circle.\u201d<\/p>\n Streetsblog asked multiple workers whether they\u2019d been subsidized to attend the Thursday\u2019s pro-DSP rally; all either refused to answer or said they didn\u2019t know. (The document obtained by Streetsblog advised rally attendees not to speak to the press.)<\/p>\n A rep for New York Delivers, meanwhile, professed ignorance of how DSPs convinced their employees to attend \u2014 but did not deny that workers had received compensation to attend.<\/p>\n \u201cThose are decisions made between companies and employees,\u201d said spokesman Tommy Kaelin, of the D.C.-based Glen Echo Group. \u201cIf local businesses chose to compensate their drivers who wanted to be here, it\u2019s because they value their time and understood they would have to miss work.\u201d<\/p>\n Amazon is far from hands off when it comes to its supposedly third-party delivery partners: The company recently offered<\/a> drivers $1,000 to submit testimonials about why they like their jobs. New York Delivers solicits similar stories on its website. (A rep for Amazon said the testimonial program predated the Council\u2019s regulatory push and is not \u201cmotivated by external factors.\u201d)<\/p>\n Supporters of Intro 518<\/a>, who also rallied outside City Hall on Thursday, said requiring companies to directly employ workers would increase street safety, curb on-the-job injuries and make multi-billion corporations like Amazon liable for the behavior of their drivers.<\/p>\n The bill would require companies to pay a $500 two-year licensing fee for each warehouse. Contracting with third parties would be prohibited. Companies would have to keep driver safety records and create trainings to teach them how to \u201censure the safety of pedestrians while making frequent stops\u201d and \u201cidentify bicycle routes and protected bike lanes and how to avoid making stops along such routes.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to the Comptroller\u2019s\u00a0report<\/a> about increased crashes near last-mile warehouses, a report by Teamsters Local 804<\/a>\u00a0argued that the proliferation of \u201clast-mile<\/a>\u201d warehouses made city streets less safe partly because of rampant illegal parking with little consequences, but also because the algorithm-driven companies pressure workers with quotas, leading to high driver turnover.<\/p>\n Amazon is \u201cobsessed with speed,\u201d one former worker testified to City Council members.<\/p>\n \u201cI witnessed first hand how Amazon\u2019s obsession with speed endangers drivers and the public,\u201d said Ira Pollack, who worked for Amazon in traffic control directing drivers at warehouses in Queens from 2019 to 2025. \u201cIn a rush to get packages on the road as quickly as possible, Amazon \u2014\u00a0managers, not just the DSP owners \u2014 sends vans speeding all over the loading area where workers are on foot. \u2026 I\u2019ve seen managers yell at drivers to hit the gas while other workers are still loading those same vans. In the chaos, I\u2019ve seen drivers hit posts, back into walls and almost hit pedestrians.\u201d<\/p>\n Last-mile warehouses are a relatively new challenge for the city to regulate. Around 40 exist in the five borough, according to testimony from DCWP \u2014 clustered in neighborhoods like East New York and Red Hook in Brooklyn and Maspeth in Queens.<\/p>\n New York Delivers claims that the bill will make delivery more expensive for city residents and put the almost 5,000 delivery drivers who work for DSPs out of a job. But the bill includes an employee retention clause \u2014 meaning Amazon will have to offer DSP workers jobs \u201cto perform the same work they had previously performed.\u201d<\/p>\n Only one chamber of commerce responded to a request for comment. Manhattan Chamber of Commerce President Jessica Walker denied that Amazon had influenced her organization\u2019s position on the bill.<\/p>\n \u201cOur positions are determined by our analysis of what\u2019s best for our members and the city we serve. Amazon is a member of our Chairman\u2019s Circle, along with many other companies,\u201d Walker said. \u201cOur position on Intro 518 is independent of any single member.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_0695.jpg\")
New York Delivers organized a rally against the Delivery Protection Act.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_0678.jpg\")
Bill co-sponsor Council Member Tiffany Cab\u00e1n wants to force Amazon to directly hire its delivery drivers.<\/p>\n