This week's episode of the Hell Gate Podcast arrives tomorrow. Make sure you never miss an episode by subscribing here, or wherever you get your podcasts.
One month ago today, the City Council passed a slew of laws to close what is known as the "Instacart loophole"—a legal quirk that left grocery store delivery drivers out of the City's groundbreaking $21.44 per hour minimum wage laws for restaurant and food delivery app workers.
But Wednesday evening, Mayor Eric Adams —with the help of his Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro—vetoed the bills mere hours before the midnight deadline, dealing another blow to delivery workers in New York City. (The veto was first reported by Streetsblog.)
Asked to explain the veto, Mayor Adams told Hell Gate in a statement that while he understands the need to raise the minimum wage for these 20,000 workers, cheap groceries should come first.
"All New Yorkers deserve a fair wage, which is why the Adams administration raised the Minimum Pay Rate for app-based restaurant delivery workers, and why we remain committed to extending these protections to other industries, including grocery delivery," he said, while doing the exact opposite of extending these protections. "At the same time, making New York City more affordable is—and will always be—our North Star. Grocery prices are already too high, so now is not the right time to do anything to drive these prices even higher."
(Hmm, we wonder which mayoral candidate actually has a plan to lower grocery prices without screwing over workers?)