Most importantly, it will essentially require qualifying delivery facilities to obtain a license from the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, introduce new safety and training standards, and have large delivery businesses hire their own workers instead of hiring them as subcontractors.
This would completely redefine Amazon’s delivery practices in New York City, and although Amazon packages are delivered by drivers in Amazon vehicles wearing Amazon uniforms, not all these drivers work directly for Amazon. Amazon uses a system of third-party firms named Delivery Service Partners, or DSPs, which employ drivers who deliver the packages.
It seems that New York legislators are going to enforce laws that require companies running these delivery networks to take more responsibility for their workers, and Amazon is opposing this move with all the money it has.
Amazon Quietly Invested Over $5 Million
As reported by New York Focus, Amazon made five donations worth $5,001,377 to the Five Borough Jobs Campaign between February and mid-May 2026. The organization then spent millions on a campaign under the name of New York Delivers, which publicly positions itself as a coalition of delivery firms, their employees and small businesses.
However, most of the funds behind the campaign have come from Amazon.
According to New York Focus, the company’s donations comprised almost all of the organization’s newly acquired money as it launched a months-long campaign against the legislation. The campaign has invested in social media ads and political newsletters while informing New Yorkers about the threat the bill poses to job losses and skyrocketing delivery prices.
One of the estimates cited repeatedly states that the bill could cost New Yorkers an extra $664 annually for delivery charges. The figure was calculated in a study conducted by consulting firm AKRF; the Five Borough Jobs Campaign paid $52,500 for the research.
The fight then took a new turn this week when New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani publicly supported the Delivery Protection Act. According to Mamdani, corporations had grown huge but, at the same time, avoided all responsibilities regarding working conditions through subcontracting.
In a video in which he supports the bill, Mamdani highlighted the obvious hypocrisy in the delivery process of Amazon – on one hand, Amazon vans, Amazon uniforms, and Amazon packages, and on the other hand, Amazon claims that not all deliverers are Amazon employees.
The bill will increase corporate responsibility and ensure strong labor and safety standards, and Mamdani’s endorsement has put the biggest company in the world against City Hall.
$5 million is very little in comparison with the scope of the global corporation that Amazon is, but it is a huge amount for a campaign to lobby the municipal government. The money provides insight into how companies can use their political clout at the municipal level.
A campaign that is publicly presented as a union between workers and local small businesses was lavishly funded by a company that may have the biggest stake in defeating the proposed bill, and now it will be seen whether this money is enough.
Mamdani supports the bill, and dozens of council members are ready to become its co-sponsors; Amazon will not just oppose the bill. It will oppose the government that has become willing to challenge the business model that made the company one of the strongest corporations in the world. This will set a national example of how even one of the biggest corporations in the world cannot fight the power of the people when the right politicians are elected.
I hope the Mayor succeeds
The mayor of NY is the best ever