Council Member Cabán on Rikers Island constituents, jail complaint bill, and Delivery Protection Act

Council Member Kavan, followed by Epstein.

Thank you.

First, I'd like to associate myself with the remarks of Councilmember Hanif.

Secondly, I would like to say thank you for Councilmember Shulman's leadership on Intro 1060, of which I'm a co-sponsor.

I represent the district that has Rikers Island in it.

Every single person that is detained there is a constituent, and those are constituents that my office tries to help each and every day and is incredibly difficult in any system that makes it easier to be able to follow up with them, their loved ones,

and be able to speak with the administration and the agencies about rectifying those issues is incredibly important, so thank you.

Third, I would like to just note that today I was presented alongside some of our council colleagues with this stack of almost a thousand signatures from delivery workers who, despite

wearing an Amazon vest are not Amazon employees.

And it is all in favor and support of the Delivery Protection Act, which is ultimately a safety bill.

It is one that will reduce crashes.

It is one that will make sure that when employees get hurt, there is a recourse.

It is one that will set safety standards across the industry and will stop big corporations from hiding behind false and exploitative subcontracting models to avoid the kind of

liability that they really should be taking on because they are acting as employees in that sitting.

We're not alone in this.

New Jersey's Attorney General has now filed suit against Amazon for exactly the same model.

We have well over 30 co-sponsors on the bill, a host of support, not just from labor, but street safety groups and environmental justice groups.

And so I urge my colleagues, if you're not on it yet, to please get on.

It's going to make a huge difference to the livelihoods, the health and the safety of thousands of workers around the city.

So thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember.