Delivery Workers Cheer Restroom Access and Tip Transparency Alongside AOC and Chuck Schumer
Gabriel Lopez, who has been making a living as a food delivery worker for over 18 months, braved the elements in Midtown, Jan. 21, 2022. Hiram Alejandro Durán/ THE CITY
Starting Sept. 24, New York City’s app-based food delivery workers are entitled to increased clarity on their daily earnings and tips, and the right to use most restaurant bathrooms, as new laws begin their rollout.
The Deliveristas celebrated the new protections Sunday afternoon with a rally in Times Square, flanked by allies including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-The Bronx/Queens) and Sen. Chuck Schumer, who has advocated for federal funds to create rest stops for the workers and other supports.
Also joining were city Comptroller Brad Lander and Councilmembers Carlina Rivera (D-Manhattan) and Justin Brannan (D-Brooklyn), among the lawmakers who introduced the Council bills.
The rally drew dozens of Deliveristas, many of whom hail from Indigenous communities from Mexico and Guatemala. Workers from Bangladesh and Mali also participated.
“We’re going to see big, big changes with these laws,” upper Manhattan delivery worker Manny Ramírez, 34, told THE CITY on Friday. “The discrepancy between what the client thinks we get paid and what the apps actually pay was immense — but now there is more awareness, and we felt like we’d won with that alone.”
“We feel like winners,” said Ernesta Galvez, 40, who works for the Relay app and is one of the few women among the Deliveristas. “It’s emotional to think about how far we’ve come.”
Ocasio-Cortez said in a phone interview on Sunday that the local gains for delivery workers send important signals nationally.
“What we’re seeing with the Deliveristas and the working class in New York, particularly tech workers, is such a strong counterpoint to what we’ve seen in California,” she said, noting that state’s ban on gig workers being recognized as full time employees.
A Fresh Meadows man was sentenced to seven years in prison for attempting to kidnap a 5-year-old boy in Richmond Hill in July 2021, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Tuesday.
James McGonagle, 27, of Parsons Boulevard, pleaded guilty in Queens Supreme Court in November to attempted kidnapping and endangering the welfare of a child for grabbing the child off a sidewalk before his mother and siblings thwarted the abduction.
As New York enters 2025, a slate of new laws impacting minimum wage, paid leave, civil rights, and environmental protections have taken effect, shaping the lives of residents in Queens and across the state.
Police from the 104th Precinct in Ridgewood are searching for a man who allegedly robbed an 88-year-old woman in Maspeth on the afternoon of Tuesday, Jan. 7.
The senior was walking near the intersection of Brown Place and 58th Avenue, two blocks south of the Long Island Expressway near Frontera Park, at around 4:45 p.m. when the alleged perpetrator snuck up behind her and forcibly removed her pocketbook, police said Tuesday.
Studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom rental units in Queens all saw year-over-year price increases by the end of 2024, according to a report by the real estate firm M.N.S. Real Estate.
U.S. Congresswomen Grace Meng and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, along with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, announced on Jan. 7 that President Joe Biden has signed their legislation into law to address severe flooding in Queens.
The measure aims to mitigate future disasters like those caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida in September 2021, which inundated the borough with record-shattering rainfall.
Last December brought a long-awaited victory for New York City. Our City Council adopted the historic City of Yes housing plan, paving the way for more than 80,000 new homes by 2040 with the promise of affordability. As a longtime resident of Flushing, Queens, I naturally welcomed the news – it’s a much-needed reprieve for New Yorkers as housing costs continue to soar in the midst of an unparalleled housing crisis. But entering 2025 on the heels of this win, we residents at Murray Hill Cooperative remain at risk — our lives are virtually unchanged because we belong to the last class of unprotected “tenants” as ground lease co-op residents. Without legislative action, more than 25,000 New Yorkers face the threat of losing their homes — homes that we own — to landowners seeking to raise our ground rent to astronomical rates.
German leisure airline Condor has announced that it will move its operations to the upcoming JFK Terminal 6 (T6), a state-of-the-art facility under development by JFK Millennium Partners (JMP).
A man was stabbed in the gut in front of a Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen in Ridgewood last week, and his attacker remains at large nearly a week later.
Police from the 104th Precinct in Ridgewood reported that the bloody assault occurred on the night of Thursday, Jan. 9, when the victim and his assailant began to argue in front of the fast food joint located at 62-58 Fresh Pond Road near the intersection of Metropolitan Avenue at around 6:35 p.m.