Chair Abreu asks DCWP about app company oversight

I do want to turn our attention to...

I was just going to add on the commercial bicycling law enforcement that we've had over 5,000 workers taken.

bicycle safety course so far.

And as Carlos mentioned, we're in active communication with the industry about the laws, including the vests.

So it's happening and we take it seriously.

Yeah, I appreciate that.

And I appreciate that more training is always going to be helpful for workers and for the public at large.

But I do want to turn our attention to the app companies themselves, because I think what we're seeing is pressure on the workers from the app companies.

And what role will DCWP overseeing those app companies to ensure that they are having workers not being pressured to do illegal routes, not going too quickly?

What can DCWP do to kind of make sure those app companies are having workers comply with the law and protect it?

I'm happy to discuss that, Chair, and then I'll also talk about how we're working with DOT on this as well and how we're going to deepen that partnership if this legislation passes.

We're very focused on a vigorous enforcement of deactivation protection starting in January.

Again, I cannot underscore enough that...

At the end of the day, all the training in the world, while critical, is not going to be sufficient if a worker goes out on the street and feels that they're going to lose their job if they don't hit these unrealistic times that the delivery apps are insisting on.

That is why we're going to enforce the just cause deactivation law aggressively.

It's why we're fighting for the minimum pay rate and enforce the minimum pay rate.

And it's why our administration is committed and supports the legislation that we're

have additional safety data reported to the administration.

Our suggestion on that legislation is that it should go to the Department of Transportation because they have expertise on street safety.

But I can assure you, Chair, that our agencies have been working hand-in-hand and will continue to work hand-in-hand to make sure this is a holistic and coordinated strategy to ensure safety on our streets and prevent arbitrary deactivations.

If I may add, thanks, Commissioner.

I want to underscore we do appreciate the Council's attention to this because it's really true.

The industry is dependent on access to our streets, our curb space, our sidewalks, but we have very limited insight into how they're operating and what the implications are.

We don't have the data that we need to really evaluate their impact on these public assets.

So access to that data would really bolster our ability to examine the transportation and street safety impacts of the model, of their delivery worker model, and would inform future investment and policymaking.

Yeah, no, it's really interesting that, you know, this is an industry relying on public.

space, right?

It is exclusively relying on public space and they're making money off access to that public space.

And there's some regulatory role, I think, that we are underutilizing to ensure that when they're using it, they're using it appropriately and making sure that they are held accountable.

And I'm wondering,

If you feel like, I hear what you're saying about the deactivation, but I'm not sure if you have even

Once we get the deactivation, do you have enough tools to ensure the app companies are – do you feel like you have enough tools if the deactivation applies, goes into effect next year, to force the app companies to do the right thing in our public spaces?

I think we do.

I think you're absolutely right on your premise, Chair.

These are companies that have built a business model on purporting to not employ their workers, not paying for the infrastructure they use, which are city streets, raking in tens of billions of dollars from New Yorkers,

and leaving the responsibility of street safety to the government, to the police, to the DOT, and to others.

It's a broken business model that much of this legislation is going to go a long way toward fixing.

In terms of our capacity to effectively enforce the law, I do have confidence we're going to be able to do that.

We are already working closely with worker organizations, including thanks to the support that you are providing to nontraditional worker organizations, to ensure workers understand their rights that take effect in January.

And I will add that I think our victory last week over DoorDash, and I was pleased to stand alongside you to announce that, demonstrates that this is a department

in this administration that's capable of taking on massive lawbreaking and delivering big wins for the city.

We are not afraid to take these companies to court, and if they violate our deactivation laws, we're going to do just that.

Chair, I would also like to share that, just to echo Commissioner Flynn and Commissioner Levine's testimony, there are certainly bills in this package that we can see as adding additional tools to our enforcement mechanisms here.

And then now I'm

So we certainly want to work with those.

And then additionally, there's a lot of bills here where the intent's there.

We just want to make sure that everyone's had a chance to comment on them, our delivery workers, street safety advocates, because ultimately we're in the first step of this legislative process where we have to hear these voices out if we want to develop good coordinated policy.