NYC Mayor Mamdani backs Amazon delivery worker bill, escalating fight with retail giant

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is throwing his support behind controversial legislation that would force Amazon and other delivery giants to directly employ thousands of drivers — escalating a fight with the retail behemoth as it threatens to move its delivery operations outside the five boroughs.

Mamdani on Monday backed the Teamsters-supported Delivery Protection Act, which would bar companies from subcontracting core warehouse and delivery work at last-mile facilities and require workers to be directly employed by the facility operator — potentially sending customers’ bills soaring.

“Corporations like Amazon build billion-dollar business models by insulating themselves from accountability through a system of exploitative subcontracting,” the mayor said in a statement.

He called the bill “common-sense 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.”

However, the legislation would foist an extra $664 per year on New York households to get their goods, according to a study by consultancy AKRF.

“This law is just going to raise prices for consumers,” Business Council of New York State spokesperson Steve Smith told The Post.

And Amazon, which works with more than 40 local Delivery Service Partners employing over 5,000 people in New York City, has warned that the legislation could prompt it to move delivery operations outside the city.

“We’re committed to creating good jobs, supporting our thousands of employees and local small business partners in New York City and providing fast, reliable delivery for New Yorkers,” Amazon spokeswoman Kelly A. Nantel told The Post.

Opponents of the bill planned to mount their own show of force Monday, with package delivery workers and small-business owners planning a 1 p.m. press conference in East Harlem to urge city leaders to reject the measure.

The New York Delivers coalition said its members will gather at Thomas Jefferson Park to argue that Intro 518 threatens thousands of delivery jobs and small businesses while raising costs for New Yorkers.

The coalition claims as many as 10,000 city delivery jobs could be at risk if the legislation passes, including an estimated 3,500 last-mile delivery jobs in Harlem and four adjoining Council districts.

New York Delivers also said 82% of the last-mile delivery workforce does not have a college degree, and 84% is non-white.

The group plans to feature delivery workers and small-business owners who say the legislation threatens their livelihoods.

The opposition event is scheduled for the same day that supporters of the Delivery Protection Act are stepping up pressure on the Council, sharpening the fight over legislation that would upend the subcontracting model used for last-mile deliveries in the city.