Mamdani backs delivery-worker bill in showdown with Amazon

NEW YORK (MNTV) — New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has endorsed a City Council bill to strengthen protections for delivery workers, setting up a confrontation with Amazon whose lobbying campaign against it is reportedly led by Jessica Schumer, daughter of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

The Delivery Protection Act would set safety, training, and labor standards for delivery workers and require delivery firms to obtain city licenses. 

Its central provision would bar warehouse operators from subcontracting delivery work to third parties — directly challenging Amazon’s model of contracting last-mile deliveries to nominally independent businesses rather than employing drivers itself. 

If enacted, Amazon would have to employ its New York City drivers directly. Mamdani endorsed the bill, sponsored by Councilmember Tiffany Cabán, on Monday; it has 35 of the council’s 51 members as co-sponsors, though Speaker Julie Menin is not among them.

Public lobbying records list Jessica Schumer, Amazon’s head of New York policy since January, among the company’s lobbyists, and reports say she is leading the effort against the bill. 

That her father is a senior Democrat creates an obvious optics problem, though there is no indication Senator Schumer is involved in Amazon’s campaign.

Amazon argues that ending subcontracting would harm the small businesses that operate as its delivery providers — it says more than 40 firms employing about 5,000 people — and has warned it could move facilities out of the city. 

Labor advocates counter that the model lets Amazon shape drivers’ working conditions, through quotas, routes, and schedules, while avoiding legal responsibility for them; this year the National Labor Relations Board ruled Amazon was not a joint employer of those drivers. 

Supporters also cite rising traffic injuries near Amazon delivery hubs. Amazon rejects those claims.