Chamber CEO: Delivery Protection Act will kill jobs
In Daily News op-ed, Jessica Walker urges Council to pursue proven safety measures instead of dismantling the local delivery industry
August 24, 2026
NEW YORK — Manhattan Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jessica Walker today published an op-ed in the New York Daily News warning that the Delivery Protection Act (Intro 518), now backed by Mayor Mamdani, would eliminate thousands of local jobs while failing to deliver the safety and worker protections it promises.
"I support every goal this bill claims to address. What I oppose is the mechanism," Walker writes. The bill's ban on delivery subcontracting, she argues, would shut down dozens of independently owned delivery firms across the five boroughs — many minority-owned, most paying above $20 an hour with benefits — while the largest operators simply relocate facilities to New Jersey and Long Island, taking jobs and oversight with them.
The op-ed lays out alternatives the Chamber would actively support: fully staffing the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection to enforce protections already on the books, regulating delivery routes and quotas directly, mandating proven vehicle safety technology, fixing curbs and loading zones around facilities, and requiring public, facility-level reporting of crashes and injuries.
"Mamdani is right about the problem. He's backing the wrong answer — and the city's business community stands ready to help him find the right one," Walker writes.
Read the full op-ed: https://www.nydailynews.com/2026/08/24/delivery-protection-act-will-kill-jobs/