On Thursday, the New York City Council announced its plan to override Mayor Eric Adams’ vetoes on multiple pieces of legislation that would deliver worker protection and minimum wages for grocery app delivery workers, many of whom are immigrants.
The first law, Intro. 1133-A, sponsored by Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez, would provide grocery delivery workers with new protections under the law, including access to bathrooms, distribution of fire safety materials, and insulated delivery bags. Intro. 1135-A, sponsored by Council Member Sandy Nurse, would establish a minimum wage for grocery delivery workers.
“For a mayor who claims to champion working-class New Yorkers, vetoing 1133-A and 1135-A is more than disappointing — it’s a betrayal,” said Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez in a statement shared with Documented. “These bills were designed to protect the very delivery workers his own administration once said they wanted to help. The fact that this commonsense idea came from City Hall in the first place makes this reversal all the more cynical.”
In 2021, the City passed a landmark minimum wage law for delivery workers. However, a loophole existed that excluded grocery delivery workers who worked for companies such as Instacart. In July, the city council passed both bills that intend to close the loophole. As first reported in Streetsblog, Instacart and other tech companies funded several front groups that argued the bills would raise the costs of groceries for low-income New Yorkers by partially transferring the costs of increased wages onto grocery costs.
“Instacart has long supported and advocated for a thoughtful minimum earnings structure for grocery delivery workers in New York City – one that fairly balances the needs of workers, customers, and local retailers,” said Thomas McNeil, Government Affairs Senior Manager at Instacart. “But based on the City’s own data, Intro 1135-A as written could drive grocery delivery prices up by a staggering 46%, cut off access to work for thousands of NYC delivery workers, and increase fees on small local grocers by as much as 13%.”
In a July 22 letter sent to Mayor Adams and exclusively obtained by Documented, Dani Dudeck, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Instacart urged the Mayor to veto Intro. 1135-A.
“As a mayor who has made combating food insecurity a top administrative priority, few understand better than you that nearly 1.3 million New Yorkers — including 1 in 4 children — struggle to access affordable, healthy food,” he wrote. “Moreover, recent budget cuts in Washington will soon cut SNAP benefits for more than 300,000 households in New York, creating a crisis that will devastate the most vulnerable communities.”
Following an intense lobbying and public relations campaign by grocery apps like Instacart, which opposed the bills, Mayor Eric Adams vetoed the legislation on Wednesday, citing the app companies’ talking points that claimed the bills would increase grocery prices.
“Grocery prices are already too high, so now is not the right time to do anything to drive these prices even higher,” said Mayor Adams in a statement to Documented. “Unfortunately, Intro. 1135-A and Intro. 1133-A would do just that at a time when too many working-class New Yorkers are struggling.”
Yet, the mayor’s veto stands in stark contrast to the mayor’s earlier support of the legislation. In 2022, the mayor’s “Blueprint for New York City’s Economic Recovery” promised to work with the city council to expand the minimum labor standards for the 17,000 app-based grocery delivery workers.
“These vetoes once again demonstrate how the mayor is failing New Yorkers and the public interest since his administration recommended these bills, negotiated them, and supported their passage during the entire legislative process,” said City Council Speaker Adrian Adams at Thursday’s press conference.
When Documented pressed the mayor’s office on why the mayor changed his mind, they stated on background that the mayor’s position had evolved, and the time was not right because of the high grocery prices.
Following the mayor’s veto, Council Member Sandy Nurse, along with Speaker Adams, vowed to work with their colleagues in the council to override the veto.
“The Mayor’s veto of my bill to force grocery delivery apps to pay workers a living wage is a step backwards for workers’ rights and protections in our city,” said Nurse in a statement to Documented. “The Mayor has aligned himself with Instacart, a multi-billion dollar company that refuses to pay their workers fairly and instead is spending countless dollars on lobbyists and ads to spread lies. Together with my colleagues at the Council, we will override this veto and ensure that Intro 1135-A goes into effect.”
Also Read: Advocates Call NYPD’s Crackdown on Delivery Workers of Color, Racist
Workers’ rights organizations, like Workers Justice Project, which organizes immigrant delivery workers, expressed their disappointment with the mayor and called on the city council to override his veto.
你知道吗？非公民办理驾照时的这个错误可能会导致选民欺诈
“By rejecting these bills, the Mayor will only make it harder for these predominantly Black and brown workers to feed themselves and their families,” said Ligia Guallpa, Executive Director of Workers’ Justice Project/Los Deliveristas Unidos. “Taking food off the table of Black and brown workers is not a meaningful or effective way to address the food insecurity faced by Black and brown communities in New York City. As a society, we should never accept such a meager view of our worth and possibilities.”
Dan Ocampo, Staff Attorney with the National Employment Law Project, also condemned the mayor for turning his back on delivery workers.
“Adams Department of Consumer & Worker Protection led the effort to raise restaurant delivery worker pay,” he said in a statement shared with Documented. “Adams also identified the expansion of the delivery worker minimum pay standard as a signature initiative for the Department in his Blueprint for Economic Recovery. By vetoing these bills, he’s not only defying the City Council but also undermining his own administration’s work.”
