Council overturns Adams' vetoes to advance worker protections

A driver wields a sign while standing outside of City Hall. Legislation ensuring that apps like Uber cannot deactivate driver's accounts without cause was one of over a dozen bills passed by the City Council Thursday over the veto of Former Mayor Eric Adams late last year.

Gerardo Romo / NYC Council Media Unit.

On Dec. 31, the final day of his administration, former Mayor Eric Adams vetoed numerous bills that passed the City Council late in the year.

On Thursday, the new, defiant City Council Speaker Julie Menin led the body in overriding 17 of those vetoes, clearing the way for a series of new worker protections affecting some of the city’s most vulnerable jobs. The bills focus on app-based drivers and delivery workers, private security guards and street vendors – workers who often face unstable pay, limited benefits and sudden job loss.

One of the most significant measures creates new protections for drivers who work for ride-hail and delivery apps. The law bars companies from deactivating workers without a clear reason, such as misconduct, a legitimate business need or a legal requirement. Worker advocates say sudden account shutdowns can cut off a driver’s income overnight, with little explanation or chance to appeal.

The bill’s sponsor, Council Member Shekar Krishnan, called it “the largest due process protections for workers in the nation.”

“This bill has the ingredients to start a drivers’ rights movement,” he said.

The council also overrode a veto of the Aland Etienne Safety and Security Act, which raises pay and benefit standards for private security guards.

The bill is named after Aland Etienne, a security guard who was fatally shot while protecting the lobby of 345 Park Ave in July 2025. Once Aland’s legislation is fully implemented, the minimum take-home package for a new hire will be worth $26.49/hour, paid vacation and 8 paid holidays.  It is the first private-sector wage law passed by the city since 1964.

Members of Etienne’s family joined leadership of Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union at a press conference before the vote, describing the bill as both a workplace reform and a way to honor his legacy.

“We are still in grief. Aland’s job was to protect the public,” said his younger brother, Smith Etienne. “As a father, as my hero, as a brother, as a son, as a mentor, he did whatever he could to uplift others.”

At one point, Smith Etienne asked the crowd to stand and chant his brother’s name – “Aland Etienne! Aland Etienne!” – before adding, “we’re not going to let anyone vilify a hard-working immigrant.”

Vendor bills passed

Another set of veto overrides targets the city’s long-restricted street vending system.

For more than 40 years, the city has tightly limited the number of vending licenses, leaving many of the city's 23,000 vendors operating without legal protection. Since 1979, the city has issued only 853 licenses for selling non-food goods, even as more than 10,000 people remain on a waitlist. Food vending licenses have also been scarce, fueling an underground market in which some permit holders illegally rent licenses for thousands of dollars a year.

The new legislation begins to loosen those limits.

One measure, sponsored by Council Member Pierina Sanchez, allows the city to issue 2,200 new supervisory license applications for mobile food vendors each year from 2026 through 2031, along with 10,500 new general vending licenses starting in 2027. The measure also expands training requirements and increases inspections, with the goal of bringing more vendors into the legal system.

Two companion bills are designed to ensure the expansion functions in practice and provide ongoing support.

Legislation sponsored by Council Member Amanda Farías allows the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection to continue issuing license applications until the new caps are actually met, accounting for applications that do not result in issued licenses. Farías has described Adams’ 11th-hour vetoes as “politically motivated to shield corporate interests.”

Another bill, sponsored by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, creates a Division of Street Vendor Assistance within the Department of Small Business Services to connect vendors with city resources and report annually on outreach efforts.

“[The bill] was vetoed without any real justification,” Williams said at a press conference before Thursday’s vote.

“Street vendors are New York City’s smallest businesses and provide some of the most affordable options for New Yorkers facing an increasingly unaffordable city,” he said. “They don’t have the support from the city they need to survive, and they are also among the most vulnerable in our population.”

Together, supporters say, the measures formalize street vending as a viable pathway into small business ownership while curbing exploitation tied to the city’s long-restricted licensing system.

Bill opposed by PBA left out

Not all vetoes were overturned. Menin allowed three to stand, including the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act, which would have given nonprofits and housing groups the first chance to buy distressed apartment buildings.

While Mayor Mamdani has supported the bill as a way to protect tenants, his legal team recently raised concerns that it could interfere with property owners’ rights. The bill’s sponsor, Council Member Sandy Nurse, has said she plans to keep pushing for it.

Two additional vetoes left in place include legislation that would have required a minimum share of city-financed affordable housing to include two or three-bedroom units, and a bill mandating that police body camera footage be sent directly to the Civilian Complaint Review Board rather than routed through the NYPD.

The latter measure drew fierce opposition from the Police Benevolent Association. PBA President Patrick Hendry argued the bill would accelerate resignations and deter recruitment.

“Bills like this are a major reason cops are quitting in droves,” Hendry said in a post on the union's Instagram. “Who wants to work in a system where people who don’t value or understand your work are given direct, real-time access to second-guess your every move?”

Despite those unresolved debates, Thursday’s vote marked a clear break from Adams-era vetoes and signaled that the City Council intends to put worker protections at the center of its agenda moving forward.