Council passes numerous worker protection measures in final session

Long-sought initiatives to protect the job security of delivery workers, increase permits for street vendors and expand the pay and benefits of construction workers passed The City Council last week. The measures, some pushed by labor unions and worker-advocates for years, were just a few of a large number of bills passed voted on by The Council in its final session of the year. 

The Construction Justice Act that was first introduced in 2023 requires housing developers of certain city-funded projects to pay workers a wage and benefits package of at least $40 per hour, with at least $25 of that package made up of wages. It would also require these developers to have 30 percent of the workforce they hire reside in the city.  

The measure was backed by Laborers Local 79 despite the fact that it will mainly benefit non-union construction workers. 

“I’m proud of the work I do, and today’s vote shows that New York City values my work, too,” said Orlando Rodriguez, a member of Laborers Local 79. “The Construction Justice Act creates real opportunity for workers who started like I did — formerly justice-affected and from our city’s poorest neighborhoods — by delivering family-sustaining wages, healthcare and a true pathway to the middle class.” 

Three bills that were part of a larger reform package for the city’s street vendors that raise the cap on food and general vendor permits for the first time in over 40 years also passed The Council. Long championed by the vendor-advocacy organization the Street Vendor Project, one of the three bills make 2,200 additional supervisory license applications available to vendors each of the next five years along with 10,500 general vending licenses in 2027. 

The two other bills in the package authorize the city to issue those licenses until the new cap is reached and creates a Division of Street Vendor Assistance within the Department of Small Business Services  to assist street vendors. 

“Thousands of street vendors have led a movement to reform the street vending system and make sure it’s equitable, predictable, and enforceable. Today, they are reaping the results of that hard work," Mohamed Attia, Managing Director of the Street Vendor Project at the Urban Justice Center said in a statement. "The Street Vendor Reform Package creates tens of thousands of opportunities for our smallest businesses while ensuring critical investments in the resources vendors desperately need. We are proud of the broad coalition built throughout this journey—from immigrant-rights advocates and small business associations to public-space advocacy groups—who pushed this vision across the finish line.” 

Legislation supporting street vendors has been blocked in the past by Mayor Eric Adams, who vetoed a bill earlier this year that eliminated most harsh legal penalties for street vendors selling without a license; a veto that was eventually overruled by a City Council vote. Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has also expressed his support for the street vendor package. 

The vendors organized alongside another group of largely immigrant New Yorkers – app-based delivery workers – who promoted their own worker protection bill throughout 2025. Intro 1332 prohibits delivery apps from deactivating workers’ accounts without “just cause or bona fide economic reasons.” The bill sponsored by outgoing chair of the Council Committee on Finance Justin Brannan, effectively awards app-based delivery workers just cause protections that fast food workers also have.  

The just cause bill is one of the numerous legislative victories that Los Deliveristas Unidos and its parent organization Workers Justice Project have made over the last half-decade on behalf of 80,000 delivery workers in the city.  A similar bill that prevents Uber and Lyft drivers from deactivation without just cause also passed The Council.

FDNY bills passed 

Two bills sponsored by Council Member Joann Ariola that push the FDNY to rid itself of firefighting gear that contains cancer causing polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that are currently a central component of the middle-moisture barrier of the FDNY’s bunker gear also passed last week. The two approved bills would require that the FDNY notify firefighters when that are using gear containing PFAS and swap out that gear for non-PFAS bunker gear by 2028. 

Two other bills sponsored by Ariola that require the FDNY to create monthly reports on the number of EMS units available each day and report annually on the status of FDNY EMS equipment also passed the Council.

“Intros 1140, 1229, 1452, and 1453 will have dramatic, long-term impacts on our first responders and on public safety in this city,” said Ariola. “With these bills, we are taking strong steps towards making sure our firefighters and EMS personnel will have safe gear and equipment, and New Yorkers are getting the level of public safety they deserve.” 

The Council also passed a variety of housing measures and resolutions in a mad dash before many in Council leadership, including City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, leave the Council at the end of the year. Adams sponsored a bill that boosts pay for 80,000 security guards which passed last week. 

“Security officers are integral to our city's public safety infrastructure, safeguarding our offices, homes, public institutions, and so much more,” Speaker Adams said. “Every day, security officers put their lives on the line, and yet they aren't always compensated or treated like the essential workers they are. For all they do, they deserve stronger worker protections, benefits, and fair pay.” 

All bills passed last week could become law either if Mayor Adams signs the bill or, through a quirk in city law, declines to either sign or veto them, allowing them to "lapse" into law at the years' end.

HFreeman@thechiefleader.com