A New York’s thousands of people deliver Amazon packages every day by wearing uniforms with the company’s brand and driving recognizable vans from the logo. Many of them, however, are not addicted to Amazon. They work for small external companies that manage deliveries on behalf of the group, hire drivers and pay their salaries. A proposal from the municipal council aims to change the system, requiring large companies to assume directly the responsibility of the workers employed in deliveries.
The proposal is called the Delivery Protection Act and was presented by the Tiffany Cabán board. Mayor Zohran Mamdani publicly supported it in August and Tuesday, October 20, reiterated its position, while the comparison between trade unions, logistics companies and business organizations grows. The measure already has the support of a large majority of advisers, but has not yet reached the vote.
The central point concerns the last part of the deliveries, what is called last mile in English. The parcels are transported to the city distribution centers, divided by destination and then loaded on the means that lead them directly to the customers. Amazon uses for the last mile a network of independent companies, the Delivery Service Partners, which employ drivers. The company, however, establishes many aspects of the work, from the routes to the times of the deliveries, although not formally the employer of the couriers.
The text of the Delivery Protection Act provides that the structures used for the final distribution of packages must obtain a licence from the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. To maintain it, managers should comply with safety, training and employment requirements. Among the conditions is the obligation to directly employ workers who carry out the main activities of the structure, including deliveries.
The measure also introduces a training programme on road safety and working conditions. Drivers should receive instructions on the risks related to the stops along the busy roads, the presence of cyclists and pedestrians and the pace of deliveries. Companies would also be subject to controls and may lose their license in case of violations.
The proposal also arises from the problems detected in the neighborhoods where in recent years the department stores of distribution have concentrated. A report published in 2025 by the New York Auditor’s office has analyzed 18 major centres since 2017. In 78 percent of the areas examined, road accidents with injuries increased after the opening of the facilities. Within about 800 meters of warehouses, the number of wounded has grown on average by 16 percent.
The data indicate an increase in traffic and risks in the affected areas. In Maspeth, Queens, accidents near two department stores in FedEx and Amazon increased by 53 and 48 percent respectively. The same report found over two thousand accidents at work reported between 2022 and 2024 in fifty structures in the sector.
For Mamdani and the unions in favor of the law, the problem is that the companies that organize deliveries can directly influence the working rhythms without fully responding to the conditions of the drivers. Teamsters, one of the largest American transport trade unions, argue that direct recruitment would make it easier to enforce workers’ rights and identify liability in case of accidents or violations.
Amazon contests this reconstruction. In the testimony presented to the City Council, the company has explained to collaborate with more than 40 small distribution companies, employing more than 5 thousand people in New York. According to the group, obliging these companies to give up the management of couriers would jeopardize their survival.
Amazon also warned that, if the measure was approved in the current form, it could transfer out of the city part of its distribution activities. He has not announced dismissals or closures already decided, but argues that the law would make it necessary to review the way in which New York customers serve.
Concerns are not just about Amazon. Some business organizations argue that the measure could increase delivery costs and put smaller companies in trouble. The president of the National Urban League, Marc Morial, criticized the proposal, observing that the owners of contractors should be more involved in the discussion. The same organization receives funding from Amazon, a circumstance recalled by City & State New York in the study published on 20 October.
Cabán rejects the hypothesis that large companies are forced to abandon New York. The board says that the current system allows Amazon to download risks on workers and small businesses, keeping control over deliveries.
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