Mayor Adams vetoed two Metropolis Council payments late Wednesday that might enhance minimal wages for grocery supply staff to greater than $20 an hour — a transfer that got here after his prime aide, Randy Mastro, launched an inner advocacy effort in opposition to the measures, in line with sources acquainted with the matter.
The mayor, whose personal Division of Client and Employee Safety commissioner lauded the payments as lately as late final yr, had till midnight Wednesday to veto the measures or they’d have lapsed into regulation.
With simply over six hours to go till the deadline, Adams introduced he had used his veto pen to dam each payments, arguing they’d lead to larger grocery costs — a problem that has turn out to be an enormous give attention to this yr’s mayoral marketing campaign path.
In a press release, Adams argued the elevated wage necessities would lead to grocery supply corporations jacking up costs on their clients, which he mentioned contains seniors, folks with disabilities and SNAP beneficiaries.
“Grocery prices are already too high, so now is not the right time to do anything to drive these prices even higher. Unfortunately, Intro. 1135-A and Intro. 1133-A would do just that at a time when too many working-class New Yorkers are struggling,” the mayor’s assertion mentioned, utilizing the index numbers for the measures.
The inner convos got here after Amazon and Instacart, two main grocery supply corporations, launched an aggressive lobbying marketing campaign urging Adams to dam the payments.
Focusing on officers in Adams’ workplace and on the Division of Client and Employee Safety, Amazon and Instacart have made the identical argument that the measures would lead to larger grocery costs for his or her clients and in addition warned of potential layoffs of supply staff.
“We thank Mayor Adams for recognizing this reality,” Tom McNeil, Instacart’s senior authorities affairs supervisor, mentioned after his vetoes.
First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro is pictured at a press convention on the a hundred and fifteenth Precinct station home in Queens, New York Metropolis on Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Gardiner Anderson / New York Each day Information)
Council Democrats handed the 2 payments with veto-proof majorities, that means they might transfer to override the mayor’s try to dam them.
Julia Agos, a spokeswoman for Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, mentioned after the vetoes that the chamber’s Dems are “considering our next steps” and “will always stand up for workers in our city.”
Agos additionally accused the mayor of “parroting inaccurate talking points” about elevated grocery prices. Supporters of the payments have argued third-party supply platforms would face elevated prices, not grocery shops.
“This veto demonstrates that the mayor’s claims to care about working-class New Yorkers and a sustainable delivery industry for New York City are hollow, because he is undermining the workers who make the sector possible,” Agos mentioned. “Without fair wages and protections for delivery workers, there is no sustainable industry, just exploitation.”
One of many two payments, Introduction 1135, would over time require third-party corporations like Instacart to pay grocery supply staff a minimal wage of $21.44. That degree matches the minimal wage the town set for restaurant supply staff earlier this yr — a reform that the mayor supported.
The second invoice, Introduction 1133, would be certain that any corporations with “contracted” staff performing supply providers are protected by the identical wage necessities.
The 1133 invoice was particularly designed to make sure Amazon could be coated by the brand new wage guidelines. Amazon owns WholeFoods, the grocery retailer chain, so their supply staff may very well be outlined as nearer than third-parties, main the Council to enact the second invoice to plug any potential loophole.
The vetoes come after a December 2024 Council listening to, through which Adams’ Division of Client and Employee Safety Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga, whose company oversees wage legal guidelines for supply workers, mentioned she wished to “enthusiastically commend” the Council for advancing the payments.
“There are many more New York City delivery workers in need of DCWP protections,” she testified.
Adams spokesman Zachary Nosanchuk mentioned the administration’s views have modified for the reason that December testimony as grocery costs have continued to extend.
Grocery costs, and cost-of-living considerations extra broadly, have been hotly debated throughout this yr’s mayoral race.
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic mayoral nominee who’s polling as the favourite to exchange Adams, has vowed to if elected open metropolis government-run grocery shops to attempt to convey down prices of necessities. In a press convention earlier than the mayor’s vetoes, Mamdani mentioned he hoped he wouln’t attempt to block the payments.
“I think it goes against what so many New Yorkers are calling for, which is a wage they can actually live off of,” he advised reporters.
A supply individual rides an electrical bicycle by the streets of Manhattan on November 15, 2022 in New York Metropolis. (Picture by Spencer Platt/Getty Photos)
Thus far, the Council has overridden Adams 3 times on legislative vetoes, together with when he tried to dam a invoice inserting new transparency necessities on NYPD officers. The Council is gearing as much as override yet one more veto Adams issued earlier this month to kill a invoice decriminalizing unlicensed avenue merchandising.
Mastro’s involvement in pushing the mayor to veto the grocery supply payments comes as he has turn out to be recognized at Metropolis Corridor for his aggressive administration fashion.
Since changing into Adams’ prime deputy this spring, Mastro has pushed to reverse a number of Adams administration initiatives, together with a plan to construct inexpensive housing in Manhattan’s Elizabeth Road Backyard in addition to a brand new composting wonderful construction on landlords.
With Josephine Stratman
Initially Revealed: August 13, 2025 at 2:26 PM EDT
