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The New York City Council overrode a set of mayoral vetoes on Wednesday afternoon, reviving laws that will ensure grocery delivery workers are paid a liveable minimum wage and prevent street vendors from being subjected to criminal penalties.
"Today is a clear indictment of Mayor Adams," Brooklyn Council Member Sandy Nurse, lead sponsor of the grocery delivery wage bill, said at the vote. "He has abandoned working people and immigrant workers."
The Council easily found the two-thirds majority to override the mayor's vetos on the bills that closed the "Instacart loophole." Intro 1135 will ensure a $21.44/hour minimum wage for those deliveristas, while Intro 1133 will increase protections for grocery delivery workers—including insulated delivery bags and access to toilets.
But the vote to reinstate Intro 47B, which will shield licensed street vendors from receiving criminal summonses and unlicensed vendors from being hit with misdemeanors, was much closer—35 to 9, after two council members flipped from yes to no, one flipped from yes to "abstain," and three former yes votes didn't show up.
At one point, Mayor Adams supported closing the "Instacart loophole," but flipped over the summer to issue his veto, claiming paying delivery workers a minimum wage would increase the price of groceries.
After the override vote, a spokesperson for the mayor told the New York Times that Adams was standing by his decision to veto the law, maintaining that it would harm New Yorkers who rely on grocery deliveries, "including seniors, people with disabilities, and those who receive SNAP and EBT benefits."
