Many New Yorkers seem to value Amazon’s services, but that doesn’t include Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialists of America, and surprisingly, the Teamsters, as On The Money has discovered.
There’s a real possibility that Amazon, the Seattle-based retail giant, might exit New York if this trio—perhaps we could call them the “three stooges”—gets their way and the City Council enacts a local law that would forbid the online retailer and similar companies from utilizing subcontractors for deliveries.
Let’s get real for a moment: Amazon has become a crucial service for a lot of New Yorkers, just like it has nationwide. Even people on the left—like Joy Behar from “The View”—express their “love” for Amazon, even while criticizing its billionaire founder Jeff Bezos for, you know, being a billionaire.
One common complaint among some on the left is that Bezos should contribute more in taxes, although he does employ over a million Americans. Another point of contention is that Amazon relies on small businesses that hire gig workers to deliver its packages.
In New York City, around 40 small businesses handle these deliveries. They pay their workers decent wages and provide healthcare, yet they aren’t unionized, which somehow leads to claims of exploitation. This means Mayor Mamdani is labeled as a hater, along with others in the DSA and, now, the Teamsters.
Just to be clear: I’m a supporter of unions and grew up as the son of a union ironworker. I’ve interacted with my share of Teamsters and have a good grasp of the typical blue-collar political spectrum. It typically swings between center-left and center-right but is nowhere near the extremes of the DSA.
So, it struck me as odd that Teamster leader Sean O’Brien—a blue-collar Bostonian who even spoke at the GOP’s 2024 convention seemingly supporting Donald Trump—recently rallied alongside DSA members and liberal city officials to promote this new law as revolutionary for workers.
But if you look a bit closer, you’ll see O’Brien is trying to recruit union members, and some critics suggest he’s willing to do whatever it takes to achieve that. Previous attempts to negotiate more money from companies like UPS for his members have resulted in new contracts but have also led to automation and job losses.
Yellow Corporation, a trucking company, pointed fingers at the Teamsters for its bankruptcy, claiming their refusal to agree on a restructuring plan that would cut costs, salaries, and jobs ultimately led to liquidation.
The motivations behind Mamdani’s support for the bill, along with the growing DSA faction within the state’s Democratic Party, are quite transparent: they have a radical agenda combined with a limited grasp of real economic principles and a steadfast loyalty to the ideologies learned in college.
You might say their math skills are lacking.
Amazon has indicated that its delivery network is based on a swift and cost-effective business model. This proposed law and the pressure exerted by O’Brien could jeopardize that model. Such tactics have previously resulted in job losses elsewhere, and Amazon claims this would cost local customers around $660 annually. That’s a significant amount for working-class people in a city where costs are already higher than the national average, primarily due to our flawed regulatory environment.
As a result, Amazon is considering moving a significant portion of its delivery operations to New Jersey, potentially eliminating up to 10,000 jobs in NYC. These job losses would predominantly affect minority communities, which seems like an issue the DSA might find concerning.
Representatives from the Teamsters and the mayor did not provide any immediate comments.
