New York City Council is no stranger to butting heads with Mayor Eric Adams on numerous issues. This was the case last week when councilmembers voted to override his vetoes on several pieces of legislation related to street vending and food delivery worker protections.<\/p>\n
The council has been struggling to address ongoing issues impact Black and Brown immigrants including the excessive misdemeanor criminal penalties for street vendors<\/a> and a wage raise for app-based grocery delivery workers.<\/a> This led to advocates and council members pushing to pass bills Introduction 47-B, Introduction 1133-A, and Introduction 1135-A. Adams ended up vetoing all three, which the City Council has slammed as anti-immigrant. <\/p>\n \u201cMayor Adams\u2019 vetoes were another example of him prioritizing Trump\u2019s agenda above our city by disregarding the work of his own administration on these bills and harming working-class New Yorkers,\u201d said New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams in a statement. \u201cThe Council\u2019s override of the Mayor\u2019s senseless vetoes enact these laws that advance and protect the working people of our city.\u201d<\/p>\n Street vending<\/b><\/p>\n In 2023, Adams moved the oversight for street vendors from the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) to the Department of Sanitation (DSNY), with assistance from the NYPD.<\/p>\n Concern among advocates immediately arose that the shift would lead to more criminalization and discrimination since the city\u2019s street vendors, licensed or not, are primarily Black, African, or Caribbean immigrants, and Latino migrants. At a City Council hearing later that year, a diverse group of vendors testified <\/a>to unfair ticketing, arrests, confusing rules and regulations, being waitlisted for years to get a license, and instances of discrimination while vending. According to the City Council, the NYPD issued more than 1,000 criminal vending tickets in 2023 \u2014 the majority of them to Black and Latino New Yorkers.<\/p>\n Councilmember Shekar Krishnan sponsored Introduction 47-B<\/a> in 2024. The bill was based on recommendations from the Street Vendor Advisory Board, established by Local Law 18 (LL18) of 2021. This bill would remove all misdemeanor criminal penalties for general vendors and mobile food vendors, but vendors who set up shop without a license could still be subject to a violation, a fine, or a civil penalty. <\/p>\n As a staunch advocate for immigrants, Krishnan celebrated overriding the Mayor\u2019s veto. \u201cThe City Council will protect immigrants from intimidation and fear, from the horrifying conditions of 26 Federal Plaza, and from Donald Trump\u2019s anti-immigrant agenda,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cWe will ensure that safeguards are in place so that even if this Mayor, who is beholden to the President, tries to undo them, we stand strong.\u201d<\/p>\n Grocery delivery workers<\/b><\/p>\n In 2021, the City Council passed Local Law 115 (LL115)<\/a>, which gave minimum pay protections to restaurant delivery couriers \u2014 not to be confused with app-based grocery delivery workers \u2014 who were excluded from the city\u2019s standard minimum hourly wage of $16.50.<\/p>\n Councilmember Sandy Nurse initiated Introduction 1135-A<\/a> last year, which would require grocery delivery services to pay their workers a set minimum wage. Councilmember Jennifer Guti\u00e9rrez also sponsored Introduction 1133-A<\/a>, a complementary piece of legislation that would require worker protections like access to bathrooms, distribution of fire safety materials, and insulated delivery bags.<\/p>\n When Adams vetoed and disapproved both bills, council members were shocked since they were essentially an extension of a package of DCWP bills<\/a> passed in 2023 that had the mayor\u2019s support.<\/p>\n \u201cFor a mayor who loves to brand himself as a champion of working-class New Yorkers, these vetoes weren\u2019t just disappointing \u2014 they were a slap in the face,\u201d said Guti\u00e9rrez in a statement. \u201cThese bills were designed to protect the very delivery workers his own administration once claimed they wanted to help. That City Hall is now wasting energy trying to block its own idea is as cynical as it gets. The Council will do what we always do \u2014 stand up for workers and override these vetoes, because New Yorkers deserve better than political backpedaling.\u201d<\/p>\n Nurse added, in a statement, that groceries don\u2019t magically appear and that \u201cbehind every delivery is a worker trying to earn a living and put food on the table\u201d who deserves to earn a minimum wage.<\/p>\n Like this:<\/p>\n Like Loading…<\/p>\n