Commissioner Levine says worker safety and street safety are complementary
Levine argues that worker safety and street safety are not in conflict, and that deactivation protections are critical to any street safety agenda.
Now, a common tactic by app companies, often to distract from their track record of mistreating workers, is to pit workers'rights against street safety.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
I speak with delivery workers all the time, and they consistently describe the pressure to complete more orders in less time or risk deactivation.
As Councilmember Hudson said earlier, no worker should have to choose between their safety and their livelihood.
That is why the Mondani administration was proud to support and will be vigorously enforcing Local Law 34 of 2026, which puts an end to arbitrary deactivations in New York City.
Today the Council is considering numerous bills aimed at strengthening street safety and we look forward to a thoughtful discussion of each.
But our administration, and I speak for all the agencies here, believes strongly
strongly that the basic deactivation protections provided by Local Law 34 are a critical part of any street safety agenda.
No amount of training, equipment requirements, or monitoring can make our streets meaningfully safer if workers are still operating under constant pressure to race against the clock or risk losing their jobs.
Street safety requires not only addressing how delivery workers ride, but the incentives and pressures that shape how they are required to work.