Threat or benefit: Why NYC’s Delivery Protection Act has people taking sides

A battle is brewing over the welfare of New York City’s deliveristas — the small army of delivery workers who get everything from medicine packages to food to consumers —  with people on opposite sides of support for the proposed Delivery Protection Act. The legislation is supposed to go after corporate giants and make city streets safer, but some are worried that small-business owners could be caught in the crossfire.

There’s been a boom in demand for freight and package deliveries since the pandemic in 2020. According to a 2025 Comptroller’s report, deliveries surged to 2.5 million per day by 2024, resulting in companies like Amazon and FedEx establishing more warehouses in the city to meet demand with little oversight. Since 2017, at least 18 large “last-mile warehouses,” where packages are located for final delivery, have been opened, according to the city.

“For too long, companies like Amazon have operated in our city like it’s the Wild West, ignoring workers’ rights, putting our communities in danger, and acting with impunity,” said Councilmember Tiffany Cabán, who sponsored the Delivery Protection Act (Intro 518), at the press conference at City Hall on Oct. 22, 2026.

Running these warehouses requires a huge labor force on the ground to sort, pack, and deliver orders, as well as fleets of vehicles and drivers to load and transport packages to consumers.

Cabán’s bill would create a licensing system for certain distribution facilities and last-mile warehouses. The new licensing system would go through the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), establishing safety, training, and employment requirements.

The main concern behind the bill is closing the “subcontracting loophole.” Major corporations often have third-party delivery subcontractors (DSPs), where the corporation dictates hiring standards, delivery routes, quotas, and uniforms, but doesn’t consider the workers to be their direct employees or responsibility should something happen. This often leaves workers and drivers vulnerable when there are injuries on the job, car and truck crashes, faulty equipment, or unsafe vehicles provided to them.

How the “subcontracting loophole” works

Major corporationSets hiring standards, routes, quotas and uniforms

Delivery subcontractor (DSP)Third-party company that employs the drivers

Workers & driversNot considered the corporation’s direct employees

What Intro 518 would do

• Create a licensing system for certain distribution facilities and last-mile warehouses
• Run it through the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP)
• Set safety, training and employment requirements

Where they stand, and why

For the Delivery Protection Act

• Tiffany CabánCouncilmember, bill sponsorSays companies like Amazon have ignored workers’ rights and put communities in danger.
• Zohran MamdaniMayorCalls it commonsense regulation that protects delivery workers and the communities around these facilities.
• Sean M. O’BrienTeamsters General PresidentSays Amazon uses subcontracting to deny its delivery drivers employment rights.
• Theodore MooreAlliance for a Greater New York (ALIGN)Wants Amazon held responsible for the truck traffic and idling its operations bring to communities.
• Paul Jones IIINYC Environmental Justice AllianceBacks it to cut pollution; says smaller operators wouldn’t be as affected.

Against the Delivery Protection Act

• Rudy CazaresLogistics company owner, BronxSays it threatens hundreds of small businesses and thousands of good-paying jobs.
• Bashar YazghiOwner, Logistics XpressSays it threatens his family-run business and the livelihoods of his mostly Black and Brown workers.
• Marc H. MorialNational Urban LeagueCalls it bad public policy driven by animus toward Amazon; says MWBEs in logistics weren’t consulted.
• New York Delivers CoalitionLocal logistics firmsWarns it could raise costs, close small delivery businesses and eliminate up to 10,000 jobs.

What happens to smaller companies?

Opposition to the delivery bill comes from local logistics firms and the New York Delivers Coalition. If passed, the bill could increase costs, force small delivery businesses to close, and eliminate up to 10,000 jobs, according to an impact study sponsored by the Five Borough Jobs Campaign. This year, Amazon reportedly donated $5 million in lobbying efforts to the pro-business campaign, resulting in a slew of ads against the delivery bill on TV and social media, and in sponsored newsletters. The narrative is that the bill is an attack on the “American Dream” for small-business owners and immigrant workers.

“We’re here today because Intro 518 threatens to destroy hundreds of small businesses and thousands of good-paying jobs,” said Rudy Cazares, a Bronxite who owns a logistics company that contracts with Amazon. “We kept this city moving during COVID. We deliver millions of packages on a daily basis, creating jobs and serving our communities every single day, and now City Hall wants to put us out of business.” His group protested around the corner from Cabán’s presser on Oct. 22.

“Not on our watch … we understand this is about protecting New Yorkers, protecting workers. It’s also about protecting our livelihoods, and our families, and the future of small businesses in New York City,” said Cazares.

Bashar Yazghi, owner of Logistics Xpress, similarly said that the delivery protection bill “threatens” his small, family-run business and mostly Black and Brown workers.

“I know my employees personally,” said Yazghi. “They call me late night when they’re struggling, and I know their families, their challenges, and their dreams. These aren’t just employees to me.
These are people whose livelihoods I feel personally responsible for every single day. The Delivery Protection Act threatens more than just my business. It threatens the paychecks, the homes, the opportunities, and the futures of the hardworking people who depend on it.”

“These aren’t just employees to me.”

Bashar Yazghi, owner of Logistics Xpress

Marc H. Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, said the “bill is bad” public policy and more about animus for Amazon than anything else. He surmised that many workers stand to lose their jobs and certainly won’t be hired by Amazon directly. He slammed the city for not consulting with more Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprises (MWBEs) in the logistics industry.

“No one is considering the people who are impacted,” said Morial. “This is all a high-level battle between the DSA [Democratic Socialists of America] and maybe the Teamsters union, and Amazon. Not about the people.”

Environmental and traffic aspect

The high volume of local deliveries has led to an increase in truck traffic and crashes, congestion, and air quality problems, particularly in Black and Brown communities that are already environmental justice priority areas, said the comptroller’s report.

“When trucks are idling in the community and [we say], ‘Amazon, you need to be responsible for this,’ [they say], ‘They’re not our trucks, they’re the DSPs.’ We want Amazon to be responsible for the conditions that their trucks that are driving in and out of the community actually cause,” said Theodore Moore, executive director of the Alliance for a Greater New York (ALIGN).

Where the warehouses are

68%of last-mile warehouses are concentrated in neighborhoods like these

Red HookBrooklynEast New YorkBrooklynHunts PointBronx

About 68% of last-mile warehouses are concentrated in neighborhoods like Red Hook and East New York in Brooklyn or Hunts Point in the Bronx, said the report. These areas notably have higher levels of air pollution, largely caused by heavy truck congestion and diesel truck emissions.

According to Paul Jones III, a transportation planner at the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance (NYC-EJA), an organization that supports the city’s delivery bill; the Warehouse Indirect Source Emissions Reduction (WISER) Program to clean up air pollution; and the state’s New York Clean Deliveries Act, which establishes an environmental study for heavy distribution warehouses. Other measures that can be taken to reduce the environmental impact include shifting a share of deliveries to cargo bikes and low-emission or electric vehicles; ending as-of-right development for warehouses, especially in Black and Brown communities; and expanding the city’s existing freight management programs.

Jones said smaller operators wouldn’t be as affected because the requirements in the bills would be tied to how many trucks a company owns and warehouses that are 50,000 square feet or larger.

Traffic collisions and injuries are also a concern for many supporters of the bill. There’s a high percentage of work-related injuries among last-mile employees, particularly at two FedEx facilities in Brooklyn and with Amazon’s delivery contractors, noted the comptroller’s report.

“Corporations, like Amazon, build billion-dollar business models by insulating themselves from accountability through a system of exploitative subcontracting,” said Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who announced his support of the bill. “As last-mile delivery centers have exploded across New York, so too have traffic accidents and worker injuries. The Delivery Protection Act is commonsense 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.”

“The Delivery Protection Act is commonsense regulation that protects delivery workers.”

Mayor Zohran Mamdani

Mamdani and the City Council have huge support for the bill from some union and labor leaders. It also has help from unlikely places, such as Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien, who has at times endorsed more Republican-leaning policy about immigration and border control.

“Amazon is America’s most corrupt white-collar crime syndicate, wasting millions to rob warehouse workers of the right to collectively bargain while designing a nationwide subcontracting scheme to deny employment rights to its entire fleet of delivery drivers,” said O’Brien in a statement. “New York City is a vital artery of Amazon’s global logistics operations, and it must be the first city to pass the Delivery Protection Act.”