The New York City Council passed several new bills Thursday before the clock resets Jan. 1.<\/p>\n
One they are expected to pass offers protections for delivery app workers. Under the new law, employers would be forced to stop firing those workers without cause.<\/p>\n
Delivery apps must tell workers why they’re being deactivated<\/p>\n
Councilmember Justin Brannan said his measure, Intro 1332, delivers fairness and recourse.<\/p>\n
“Workers for these apps, the delivery apps, are just getting booted off of the service without any reason why,” he said.<\/p>\n
Under the law, delivery app companies can only deactivate workers’ accounts for a stated reason, workers must get 120 days of notice before permanent removal, and workers are allowed to appeal.<\/p>\n
“This changes that to treat them like workers, and then, OK, if there’s an issue … then you need to tell us why there’s an issue and what’s going on that I’m being deactivated,” Brannan said.<\/p>\n
CBS News New York reached out by phone and email to some of the top delivery apps, including DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats. Of those, a spokesman for Uber said, despite having some issues with other City Council proposals, “We are not opposed to 1332.”<\/p>\n
The other companies have not yet gotten back to us.<\/p>\n
“It’s very frustrating”<\/p>\n
Brannan was joined by delivery workers at a rally near City Hall on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Among them was former food delivery worker Antonio Martinez-Solis, who said after six years peddling for a popular app, his account was suddenly deactivated.<\/p>\n
“They didn’t give me an explanation,” he said in Spanish. “It’s very frustrating because when we try to enter an appeal, it tells you the appeals process is over.”<\/p>\n
Now, Martinez-Solis is forced to job hunt.<\/p>\n
“I have to look for something, dishwasher in a restaurant, because we can’t just sit with our arms folded and do nothing,” he said in Spanish.<\/p>\n
Bill calling for more food vendor licenses also passes<\/p>\n
The City Council also passed a bill that would allow thousands more food vendors to operate across the five boroughs.<\/p>\n
The Street Vendor Reform package calls for an additional 2,200 licenses each year through 2031. It also adds more than 10,000 licenses in 2027 for general merchandise.<\/p>\n
Many of these workers have long struggled to obtain a license<\/a> and have been pushing for change<\/a>. Advocates also say they are among the most vulnerable to recent immigration policies<\/a>.<\/p>\n