NYC Council overrides Adams on grocery worker pay, street vending ban

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(The Center Square) — The Democratic-led New York City Council has overridden Mayor Eric Adams' vetoes of bills that will raise wages for food delivery workers and decriminalize street vending. 

The City Council on Wednesday voted to override Adams' objections to previously approved legislation that would require app-based delivery companies to shell out an hourly minimum of $21.44 to grocery delivery workers and another bill expanding their labor protections.

Council members also overrode Adams' veto of a bill decriminalizing illegal street vendors that have proliferated in the Big Apple amid a surge of migrants. The measure calls for eliminating criminal penalties for unlicensed street vendors, which can include a fine of up to $1,000 and three months of jail time.

Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said the mayor’s objections will be overridden, "advancing pay equity and a sustainable delivery industry while protecting our residents from Trump administration abuses."

"Mayor Adams’ vetoes were another example of him prioritizing Trump’s agenda above our city by disregarding the work of his own administration on these bills and harming working-class New Yorkers," Speaker Adams said in a statement. "The Council’s override of the Mayor’s senseless vetoes enact these laws that advance and protect the working people of our city."

Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez criticized the mayor for rejecting bills that "were designed to protect the very delivery workers his own administration once claimed they wanted to help." 

"For a mayor who loves to brand himself as a champion of working-class New Yorkers, these vetoes weren’t just disappointing — they were a slap in the face," Gutiérrez said "That City Hall is now wasting energy trying to block its own idea is as cynical as it gets." 

In his veto of the bill decriminalizing street vending, Adams said allowing unlicensed vendors to peddle their wares along the city's streets would impact quality of life in neighborhoods and make it more difficult for police to do their job. 

Democrats who approved the plan to boost wages for grocery delivery workers say they are among the lowest paid in New York City and argue that companies like Instacart and Shipt can afford to pay them more for their work.

But Instacart launched a TV and digital ad campaign claiming the changes would lead to fewer work opportunities, rising grocery delivery costs, and cuts in service for "vulnerable" customers. The company has threatened to sue the city if the law goes into effect. It also cites recent polls of shoppers in New York raising concerns about higher prices and the lingering pinch of inflation. 

"The City Council has now twice ignored the voices of New Yorkers, instead doubling down on harmful legislation that could significantly increase New Yorkers’ grocery delivery bills and eliminate access to work for thousands of grocery delivery workers," an Instacart spokesperson said in a statement. 

First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro criticized the Council for overriding the mayor's objections, calling it "an economic justice issue that violates the rights of every small business and licensed vendor whose very existence is jeopardized and undermined by illegal vending."

"What the Council is doing here is an affront to all those legal businesses, most of them owned and operated by immigrants," Mastro said. "That’s why Mayor Adams vetoed this bill, which strips law enforcement officers of the authority to address illegal street vending, even in the most egregious and unhealthy cases."