A Safe and Healthy New York Starts With Protecting Last-Mile Delivery Workers

New York, NY —

Today, labor union and environmental justice advocates, alongside city and state lawmakers, urge for the passage of protections for both workers and neighbors of last-mile mega-warehouses. All gathered in Red Hook to witness the everyday direct impacts and operations of the facilities. With the exponential growth of e-commerce and popularity of fast last-mile deliveries, protections for workers and communities have lagged behind. The City Council and State Legislature have the opportunity to pass solutions for both with the Delivery Protection Act (DPA), the Clean Deliveries Act (CDA), and Intro 53.

[Photos available for press use here. Photo credit: Carey Wagner for Earthjustice.]

For too long, corporations like Amazon have been allowed to evade responsibility for the workers who power their operations while imposing significant burdens on the communities where they operate. Through an extensive subcontracting model, Amazon shields itself from accountability for unsafe working conditions and labor abuses, even as the company profits from a vast delivery network that relies on thousands of workers across New York.

Delivery workers operate at the center of a system that also drives traffic congestion, worsens air pollution, and threatens public safety in neighborhoods already overburdened by industrial activity. In communities such as Red Hook, Hunts Point, East New York, and others, warehouse and logistics facilities have proliferated, bringing around-the-clock operations and thousands of diesel truck trips each day.

Diesel pollution is linked to asthma, heart disease, cognitive impairment, and premature death. Research by the Environmental Defense Fund has found that air pollution contributes to an estimated 10,200 new childhood asthma cases annually in New York City. Workers, residents, and families living near these facilities bear the costs while corporations reap the profits.

New analysis further demonstrates the interconnected nature of worker exploitation, environmental pollution, and community quality of life. In just four years, Amazon delivery vehicles received more than 3,600 violations for blocking bus lanes and transit routes, over 2,100 violations for speeding in school zones, and approximately 1,200 violations for blocking bike lanes and crosswalks. In neighborhoods where last-mile delivery facilities have opened, truck-related crashes have increased by 146%.

With the Clean Deliveries Act and Intro 53, city and state lawmakers can take action to regulate warehouse pollution and require the logistics industry to reduce emissions by transitioning away from diesel-powered operations and toward cleaner technologies, including but not limited to electric vehicles. The CDA has already passed the State Senate three times and must be approved by the Assembly this upcoming legislative session. 

At the same time, the New York City Council must pass the DPA to strengthen safety standards for delivery workers and ensure that Amazon, one of the most profitable corporations in history, is held responsible for the working conditions throughout the delivery network it depends on.

Workers’ rights and clean air are two sides of the same coin. New Yorkers deserve policies that protect both the people doing the work and the communities where they live. New York’s leaders must take a comprehensive approach that reins in corporate abuses, cleans up our air, and creates safer, healthier communities for everyone.

“Corporations like Amazon are squeezing more and more out of workers and the communities where they site their warehouses,” said Council Member Alexa Avilés, the sponsor of Int. 53. “For neighborhoods like Red Hook, that means more truck traffic, more crashes, and more pollution that makes it harder for both workers and residents to breathe. I’m proud to sponsor Int. 53, and to work with this coalition of labor and environmental justice leaders to hold Amazon accountable for the pollution their warehouses emit every day.”

“Working people should not have to sacrifice their health, safety, or dignity to get the goods our economy depends on,” said Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes, the sponsor of the Clean Deliveries Act. “In neighborhoods like Red Hook, families are already bearing the consequences of warehouse pollution, dangerous truck traffic, and the unchecked expansion of corporate operations. Amazon and other major delivery companies must be held accountable for their impact on both workers and the communities they operate in. Passing the Clean Deliveries Act, the Delivery Protection Act, and Intro 53 is an important step toward cleaner air, safer streets, and fairer working conditions. We cannot continue allowing corporations to put profits ahead of people.”

“The Amazon deliveries we all see in our neighborhoods are destroying communities like Red Hook, where heavy traffic to and from a last-mile warehouse creates toxic pollution and dangerous conditions for workers,” said Daisy Chung, ALIGN Campaigns Director. “Every New Yorker deserves clean air, safe work, and safe streets, and it’s time for the City to act to protect communities like Red Hook from Amazon’s exploitation machine.”

“As members of the Last-Mile Coalition, we demand leadership that makes improving air quality a priority in communities like Red Hook that have been struggling with pollution for decades,” said Paul Jones III, Transportation Planner at NYC-EJA, “Passing the Delivery Protection Act,  the Clean Deliveries Act, and implementing the city’s WISER program are all crucial steps towards holding the operators of warehouses and last-mile facilities accountable for their impacts on workers and local communities.”

“For communities like Red Hook surrounded by Amazon warehouses, the connection between labor and environmental justice is not abstract – it is very literal. Delivery drivers need safer conditions to cut down on traffic and pollution, and they need clean air to stay safe. City Council must pass the Delivery Protection Act,” said Sasan Saadat, Senior Research and Policy Analyst at Earthjustice.

The Delivery Protection Act (DPA) authored by NYC Councilmember Tiffany Cabán (D-22nd District) and inspired by the Amazon Teamsters 2024 strike, would require Amazon and other delivery companies operating in New York City to license their facilities with the city and hire its delivery workforce directly. The DPA would establish minimum safety, training and worker protection standards, as well as, ensure companies are accountable for the quotas, schedules and routes that shape working conditions and affect public safety.

The Clean Deliveries Act (CDA) is a proposed New York State law requiring the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to create a program for facility-by-facility review of mega-warehouses (over 50,000 sq. ft.) to reduce air pollution. Key aspects include mandating emissions mitigation plans, encouraging zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) and on-site renewables, implementing enhanced protections for disadvantaged communities and sensitive receptors (like schools), and requiring permits and ongoing monitoring for new and existing large warehouses.

Intro 53 is a proposed City law that would require the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to promulgate an indirect source rule to reduce emissions attributable to the use of indirect sources, such as warehouses or other structures that attract mobile sources of air pollution, such as vehicles. The indirect source rule would regulate certain large warehouses and any other indirect sources determined by the Commissioner. 

The Last-Mile Coalition, launched in December 2021, is a citywide group of environmental justice and public health advocates fighting to regulate polluting e-commerce or “last mile” facilities in New York City.

ElectrifyNY is a statewide coalition of advocates for environmental justice, public transportation, social justice, and good jobs fighting for a clean, equitable electric transportation future for New York. Our work aims to improve the environment and public health outcomes for the communities most affected by the negative impacts of the transportation sector’s dependency on fossil fuels.