Amazon has warned that it may close more than a dozen warehouses and move thousands of workers out of New York City if a labor bill backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani becomes law. Industry experts told The Post the company is likely to follow through, putting a vast network of jobs at risk.

The Delivery Protection Act would require Amazon to hire directly upwards of 5,000 city delivery workers now employed by outside contractors. Supporters argue it would raise pay and improve safety at Amazon and delivery companies including FedEx and DoorDash, but the possible fallout is severe.

Amazon does not directly employ delivery workers elsewhere in the country and has fiercely resisted attempts to change its policies in the United States and abroad. Experts said the 5,000 delivery jobs could leave the city while Amazon shutters its 15 final delivery warehouses and fires another 2,000 workers staffing them.

The warning is hardly theoretical. Early last year, Amazon closed seven warehouses in Quebec near Montreal during a labor dispute involving a facility where the Confédération des syndicats nationaux had organized 300 workers.

Amazon has warned it could close its 15 NYC delivery warehouses, putting about 7,000 jobs at risk, if the city passes a bill backed by Mamdani.

The bill would force Amazon to directly hire some 5,000 delivery drivers now employed by contractors. Supporters say it would raise pay and improve safety. — NewsForce (@Newsforce) October 16, 2026

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By March 2025, about 1,900 Canadians working across those warehouses and 2,800 delivery contractors serving the facilities had lost their jobs. Marc Wulfraat, president and founder of logistics consulting firm MWPVL International, said Amazon could respond similarly in New York.

“Amazon will retaliate, because it has to send a firm message to the rest of the country that ‘If you mess with us, this is what will happen,’” Wulfraat said. He said Amazon closes buildings when union activity threatens its operating model.

The Montreal facilities are now vacant, according to real estate listings, while Amazon continues paying rent on more than 1.6 million square feet of space. Wulfraat said the company spent hundreds of millions of dollars building that space, and at least two facilities are being offered for sublease.

Queens Council Member Tiffany Cabán first introduced the Delivery Protection Act a year ago and reintroduced it in 2026. The legislation has about 34 cosigners in the City Council, though a source close to negotiations said several members, including Speaker Julie Menin, are uncomfortable with possible job losses.

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“This bill will have to pass in some form,” the source told The Post, citing the mayor’s support. The final legislation may make “both sides unhappy,” while one possible compromise would retain independent delivery contractors but require more safety guarantees from Amazon.

No vote has been scheduled. The stakes are substantial because Amazon employs directly or indirectly more than 12,000 hourly workers in New York, more than twice the total it employed in Quebec.

That New York workforce includes 2,000 warehouse employees and another 5,000 delivery workers. The legislation would not affect 5,500 workers at Amazon’s JFK8 fulfillment center on Staten Island, who voted to unionize in 2022 but still lack a collective bargaining agreement.

They wear the vest, drive the branded van, and follow Amazon’s every order, yet they're not direct Amazon workers.

Mamdani is backing a bill that would require the company to directly employ the drivers who haul its packages rather than hide behind a web of subcontractors. The Delivery Protection Act targets the model that lets delivery giants dodge responsibility for wages, injuries, and street safety. Amazon is already threatening to pull operations out of the city if it passes. Making Amazon get out of NYC could be disastrous, though. Writer: Lucas https://t.co/yCScmOVdlT — Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) August 10, 2026

The 40 independent companies employing the city’s 5,000 delivery workers are also bracing for the impact. “Look at what happened in Quebec,” said Kris Basmagy, owner of DashWave Delivery. “There was pressure on Amazon’s model, and it pulled out.”

Basmagy employs 150 delivery workers and handles Amazon deliveries on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. He said Amazon could replace its city facilities with “warehouses being built along the New Jersey Turnpike.”

Amazon denies that it closed the Quebec warehouses because of union organizing and remains tied up in litigation there. A separate lawsuit filed by an Amazon Prime customer alleges the closures caused deliveries to take four to six days instead of the promised one or two days, although the disruption reportedly lasted about two months.

Amazon says its Quebec service recovered after IntelCom took over deliveries. In New York, the company argues that closing city warehouses would permanently slow deliveries, raise prices, reduce items covered by the Prime promise, and particularly hurt orders arriving within hours or on the same day.

Amazon funded an AKFR study estimating the legislation would cost New Yorkers an additional $664 annually, or about $5.20 per package, including deliveries from other companies. Former Amazon executive Brittain Ladd said the company “wouldn’t blink” at closing the 15 facilities if the legislation threatened a business model that other cities could copy.

Local contractors say they would become collateral damage. WGA Transit owner Joe Artus, whose company employs 189 people and has recruited formerly incarcerated and homeless workers, said, “If this thing passes, there is no way for my company to exist or to keep my 189 employees.”

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