Feliz questions on worker pay and unattended horse incidents

Thank you.

Thank you again, Chair.

Thank you all for being here, and also thank you for all the work you do on this issue, using your voice to help the voiceless.

So two questions.

I know time is very limited, so I'll be fast.

Two questions.

First, thinking about the transition phase and helping the workers with employment, to your knowledge, approximately how much do these workers...

Earn and also is it full-time employment seasonal i asked these questions to the administration didn't have any answers so wondering if you i have industry spokes people have said that

i think 60 000 a year but it is seasonal work because for many months out of the year they're in the winter there's no business

it is an independent contractor job i've spoken with carriage drivers who were injured badly injured

if they are injured they simply get no income, they have no health insurance, they have no worker compensation, no overtime, no sick leave, no worker protections of any kind because they're not classified as employees.

Why would TWU be representing wealthy millionaire carriage owners who misclassify their workers and deny them even the most basic worker protections, guaranteed salary,

no kind of living wage, no benefits of any kind?

That's a question to ask TWU, but industry spoke, and there's been many carriage drivers quoted.

during heat wave saying, I can't pay my bills.

We can't survive.

This is not a lucrative job.

You can Google these things.

They're all coming from the horse's mouths, the horse carriage driver's mouths.

So I have long wondered why a union would be representing this kind of

setup of a labor situation when there are real union jobs on the table of guaranteed full-time jobs with salaries, worker protections, benefits, health insurance.

You know, 20 years ago, there was a carriage driver who nearly died.

He was thrown from the carriage, suffered a skull fracture, and was in a coma for months.

And his wife was interviewed saying that he was often scared driving the carriage.

So 20 years ago, we nearly lost the life of a carriage driver in the same way that Romange died 20 years ago.

Right, right, yeah.

Yeah.

And also my second question is, as we know, leaving a horse carriage unattended can create the public safety risks that we continue to see in Central Park.

I'm just curious, how often have we seen that be the case?

Literally every day.

I have a video which I would love to show to all the council members, especially Council Member Gennaro.

This carriage driver is doing exactly what got Romange killed.

He's on a busy street, busier than where Cherry Hill is.

There's a cop car behind him.

He's in Grand Army Plaza in traffic.

He is literally stepping far away from the carriage with a baby in the carriage and a family.

Yeah.

Videos?

Oh, I'm sorry.

So this was taken yesterday, doing exactly what got Romange killed, but in more danger.

If this horse had spooked and taken off, a baby could be dead, a family, and everyone in traffic.

It happens every single day.

I have hours and hours of footage of this.

And when reported to the city, they do nothing.

They're not capable of enforcing these laws.

We saw the poor testimony.

I think it's just not possible to run after 68 carriages who don't give a damn about the safety and welfare of their own horses or the public.

It's not going to happen.

So we've got to shut it down.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Council Member Feliz.

A couple of things.

One is I just want to mention that when the Department of Work and Consumer Protection testified today, they said that drivers make $70,000.

So I want to point that out.

It was in their testimony.

I want to acknowledge that we've been joined by Council Member Ressler, and Council Member Marte has questions.

Thank you all for being here and thank you former Councilmember Bob Holden for your leadership on this issue.

I know we've we stood together for a real long time and you know I'm glad that you're here to play a part in this hearing as well.

I wanted just to piggyback on the questioning of Councilmember Felice.