Amazon's workers don't actually work for Amazon nor do they spew forth every morning from Amazon warehouses — and a Council bill seeks to change that.
Currently, Amazon-branded trucks and electric cargo bikes are actually sent out across the city by a network of Amazon subcontractors or "Delivery Service Partners." But this way of doing business is a subterfuge, and as a result “last-mile” facilities run by Amazon subcontractors with very little oversight end up being packed into just a few neighborhoods, bringing pollution, traffic violence, and safety risks.
And Amazon, the company profiting the most, is not held accountable.
A bill to be introduced on Thursday by Council Member Tiffany Cabán (D-Astoria) would require delivery companies — like Amazon — to directly employ their drivers, ending the "Delivery Service Partners" model.
The bill will also mandate safety training, make the companies directly responsible for driver safety, and require "last-mile" delivery centers to be licensed with the city. If passed, the new rules would be enforced by the underfunded Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.
The legislation is supported by The Teamsters, Amazon Labor Union, National Employment Law Project, The Alliance for a Greater New York and the Retail Workers Union.
“This legislation is going to remove the veil from these subcontractors and put the onus on Amazon as a corporation for protecting its workers,” said Theodore Moore, the executive director of the...
Top News The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, says the Federal Government’s high-level delegation currently in the United States is actively confronting and corre...