A crowd of tons of descended on Metropolis Corridor April 9 to rally for and in opposition to a council invoice, Intro 518, that may create a licensing requirement for last-mile supply amenities, together with job security necessities.
Amid the explosive development of on-line ordering in recent times, greater than 1 billion packages are anticipated to be delivered in NYC this 12 months alone. But distributing these items shortly comes at a value to individuals and the setting.
On the rally and subsequent council listening to, supporters stated the invoice is important as a result of supply employees are compelled to prioritize pace above all, leading to an awesome workload the place they work whereas ailing, don’t have any time to eat or use the toilet, do unsafe heavy lifting, use autos in disrepair and doubtlessly drive in a hazardous method — all of which places employees and the general public in danger.
Supporters imagine that licensing is the one technique to maintain firms accountable when issues go improper. However opponents stated the invoice represents authorities overreach and would end in important job losses at a precarious time for the town’s financial system. An evaluation by consulting agency AKRF estimates that greater than 10,000 NYC jobs might be misplaced if the invoice takes impact.
The laws already has a broad base of help from the Mandani administration, Queens rep Tiffany Cabán as lead sponsor and 30 extra co-sponsors, together with Bronx members Justin Sanchez, Amanda Farías, Pierina Sanchez, Althea Stevens, Elsie Encarnacion and Shirley Aldebol, who serves on the Committee on Client and Employee Safety.
Nonetheless, Intro 518 additionally faces robust opposition from native chamber of commerce leaders, in addition to New York Delivers, a coalition of small enterprise homeowners and employees who introduced tons of out to protest the invoice’s influence on subcontractors — and the opposite companies that depend on them.
Forward of the ten a.m. listening to, about 100 opponents of the invoice rallied on the Metropolis Corridor steps with indicators that learn, “Don’t kill jobs!” and “Intro 518 hurts NYC small businesses.” A number of hundred extra waited exterior the gates and weren’t let in till the listening to.
The rally was led by Rudy Cazares, proprietor of Pelham Bay-based Cazar Logistics LLC, certainly one of Amazon’s high subcontractors.
Cazares, who owns a supply firm within the Bronx, led the opposition rally. Picture by Emily Swanson
Cazares, a Marine Corps vet raised in Queens by Mexican immigrant dad and mom, stated his firm has delivered 20 million packages all through the Bronx and Queens. As well as, it has additionally delivered 140,000 meals to veterans and repair members without charge to the town, he stated.
Cazares stated Intro 518 is an overreach that may kill his firm.
“This is New York City deciding who gets to do business in this city. And if small businesses like ours are pushed out, those opportunities don’t grow,” he stated. “Protect our workers, absolutely. But do not do it by destroying small businesses that already employ them.”
After the rally, Cazares instructed the Bronx Occasions he shares the council’s considerations about employee security, air air pollution and different points the invoice goals to handle.
Town has beforehand recognized critical considerations with the last-mile supply trade. The Nov. 2025 Comptroller report, “Fast Shipping, Slow Justice: Traffic, Worker, and Climate Hazards in Last Mile Delivery,” famous steep will increase in visitors crashes and accidents close to last-mile distribution amenities, although not at all times involving supply autos.
It additionally pointed to elevated air air pollution in areas with excessive concentrations of last-mile amenities, comparable to Hunts Level within the Bronx and Purple Hook, Brooklyn, in addition to excessive charges of employee accidents.
The licensing requirement would carry subcontractors into the fold as direct staff. With out that measure, supporters say firms can evade duty for his or her injured employees and more and more polluted neighborhoods.
Whereas Cazares and others agreed these issues needs to be addressed, they disagreed that Intro 518 is one of the best resolution.
He stated his firm is already working to cut back air pollution. He stated he participated in an Amazon e-bike pilot program and has some electrical autos, although not the whole fleet.
“We’re all 100% about the environment and our community, which is why we doubled down on safety, why we doubled down on wanting to go electric,” Cazares stated.
He stated the whole premise of the invoice needs to be revisited to incorporate extra enter from trade leaders like him.
“I think we start from scratch,” he stated. “This bill did not go through any real process to really, truly understand – how do we make it about the workers and not special interests?”
A balancing act
The invoice’s lead sponsor, Tiffany Cabán of Queens, was amongst a number of electeds who joined the smaller group of Amazon Teamsters rallying to go the invoice.
“We’ve seen workers forced to drive vans literally held together with f—ing tape, and they’re forced to urinate in bottles so that they can meet impossible quotas and ever shorter delivery windows,” Cabán stated. “This is a public safety issue, period.”
Epstein, who chairs the committee overseeing the listening to, additionally joined supporters.
“I’m going to stand with workers and stand with this union and these union brothers and sisters, and say this is enough. People deserve to work in safe conditions.”
Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso stated the last-mile trade can endure profitable reform with out folding, utilizing the trash carting trade for instance. He stated nobody is asking Amazon to depart New York Metropolis however fairly to satisfy larger requirements.
“The least you can do is have a standard that matches your profit margins,” he stated. “Make it so that you’re the greatest company in the city of New York, that your employees get paid more than anyone else, have the best health insurance, have the best safety standards. That is the standard that we want you to set here in New York City.”
Lots of of individuals turned out to rally and testify for and in opposition to the last-mile invoice on April 9, 2026. Picture by Emily Swanson
Lisa Sorin, president of the Bronx Chamber of Commerce, stated the invoice would end in job losses within the borough.
She stated she spoke with eight Bronx enterprise homeowners and concluded that 1,200 jobs could be misplaced if the laws passes.
Sorin additionally stated employees usually are not essentially higher off as direct staff of a giant company.
She stated many last-mile companies like Cazares’ are owned by immigrant, veteran and/or first-generation entrepreneurs who help their employees by means of mentorship, tuition reimbursement and extra.
Town ought to take care of unhealthy actors individually fairly than a one-size-fits-all method, since most last-mile homeowners don’t mistreat their employees, Sorin stated.
“These are not faceless operators. … They have achieved the American dream and are now working with their employees to do the same.”
Her Brooklyn counterpart, Randy Friends of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, stated the invoice would “put a whole subsector of the economy out of business” at a time when the town can little afford to take action.
Below the invoice, massive firms couldn’t be compelled to rehire subcontractors as their staff — so preserving these jobs will not be a given, Friends stated.
He stated that final 12 months, in New York Metropolis, extra companies closed than opened for the primary time for the reason that pandemic. “Do you really want to now shut down a whole sector of our economy?”
‘This act will save lives’
On the listening to, Carlos Ortiz, chief of employees for the town Division of Client and Employee Safety, stated the company and the Mamdani administration help the invoice.
Licensing may be an essential technique of holding unhealthy actors accountable, and the subcontractor mannequin has to this point “shielded” firms from any legal responsibility, he stated.
If the invoice is carried out, the company should fastidiously steadiness enterprise wants with the brand new laws, he stated.
A lot of individuals testified in individual and by way of video, with some supporters of the invoice saying that firms can’t be trusted to guard employees.
One participant, Ira, stated he labored with Amazon from 2019 to 2025 and witnessed a “daily disregard for the safety of workers and the public.”
The corporate had what he referred to as an “obsession with speed,” leading to a harmful, chaotic setting with “vans speeding all over the area” as individuals rushed to load the autos. Ira stated the corporate additionally behaved irresponsibly throughout a COVID outbreak, a extreme storm and different cases.
Ira stated he witnessed accidents and plenty of shut calls, but Amazon denied legal responsibility. He additionally stated he couldn’t discover any clear security pointers for workers.
“Safety at Amazon does not exist unless they’re using it to discipline workers, and then they make up rules out of thin air,” he stated. “This act will save lives.”
