Deputy Mayor Julie Su, Economic Justice: Good morning, everyone. Mayor Mamdani promised, just outside on those steps, on the day he took office that we would tell a new story of our city. Not a tale of one city governed by the 1 percent, not a tale of two cities, the rich versus the poor, but a tale of 8.5 million New Yorkers.
So often, many of those New Yorkers are those we depend on every day, yet who operate in the shadows. They are somehow ever-present but still invisible. Today, we're here to announce what happens when their stories are told. What happens when government listens and we take action.
Hundreds of thousands of delivery drivers work in the city every day. DoorDash built a system that was quietly leaving out categories of trips and on-call time so the real amount of work by deliveristas wasn't counted. Worse, that practice was hidden from workers, making it almost impossible for them to know when they were underpaid. Some were paid late; some weren't paid at all.
260,000 workers denied a just day's pay for a hard day's work, while the company who profited from their labor hid behind an app. Today, we make things right, giving $115 million straight back to those workers.
But today's settlement isn't just about looking back. It's also about preventing the abuses in the future. Because the most effective enforcement isn't about what government can get for workers. It's about workers having a greater ability to protect their own rights.
For the first time, the city's settlement gives workers an active role in enforcing their rights, an approach that we are taking across the administration. Workers themselves, in partnership with the Workers Justice Project and the Workers Algorithm Observatory, will share their trip and pay data directly with the DCWP on an ongoing basis.
The city will not rely solely on DoorDash's account of whether deliveristas are being paid properly for all their work. Workers' own voices, their own data will guide our oversight of compliance and ensure that workers receive every cent they're owed.
In this city, no one's earnings should be obscured behind an app, no one's hours determined by an algorithm and no worker who makes our city run should be treated as invisible in it. And today, we take a big step in getting closer to the city that Mayor Mamdani promised. With that, it is always my pleasure to introduce New York City's mayor, Zohran Kwame Mamdani.
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Good morning, everyone. It is a pleasure to be here today alongside friends and partners as we celebrate a major victory for the working people who call New York City home, the largest enforcement action in New York City history.
I want to acknowledge that we have leaders here, both inside and outside of City government. We have our deputy mayor for Economic Justice, Julie Su. We have our commissioner of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, Sam Levine. You heard from our deputy mayor about the importance of the Workers Justice Project in both this work and all that will come from it.
We are proud to have Ligia Guallpa, the executive director of the Workers Justice Project. We also have Rosendo Tacam, one of the first deliveristas to file a complaint with DCWP about his experience. And I want to thank — you will see here, City Council members who have been on the front lines of this fight for so many years. We have Majority Leader Shaun Abreu, who's here, also the chair of the City Council's Transportation Committee. We have Council Member and former Assembly colleague Harvey Epstein, who is here.
The chair on the Committee on Consumer and Worker Protection, we have Council Member Sandy Nurse, who is here. If you ever need a public bathroom and you find one, you should thank Sandy. And we have Council Member Jen Gutiérrez, who is here, one of the foremost voices and fighters for universal childcare this city has ever known. And it is a pleasure, because we are also finally joined by someone who once knew this building, then was the comptroller, and soon will be a congressman from our city, Brad Lander.
Now, two months ago, Tony Xu, the CEO of DoorDash, gave business owners a piece of advice. A CEO, he said, has to "take the greedy algorithm" and keep going all the way to see if there is more. In computer science, a greedy algorithm is one that makes the most optimized, best short-term outcome choice at every step and never weighs the consequences.
New York City and the tens of thousands of delivery workers who call our city home have reckoned with greed as a business model for far too long. Every day, in heat, in snow and in rain, delivery workers carry goods and food to every corner of the city. Early morning egg sandwiches, late-night lo mein and the emergency Pepto-Bismol that could not have come sooner.
Thousands of them deliver for DoorDash, and thousands of them have felt the human cost of the greedy algorithm. For years, DoorDash failed to count every hour worked by delivery workers. This was not a rounding error or an accidental mistake. In 2023, when the city began enforcing a minimum pay rate for delivery workers, DoorDash left time out of the count. Time on canceled trips and trips that crossed city limits.
Investigators at our incredible Department of Consumer and Worker Protection went through terabytes of DoorDash's own data. After analyzing 152 million payments and 110 million hours of work, they arrived at a staggering conclusion. DoorDash had underpaid more than 260,000 delivery workers across New York City between April 2022 and June 2026, often in violation of the minimum pay rate.
Today, after years of corporate greed and impunity, we are holding DoorDash to account. I am proud to announce that DoorDash will pay more than $131 million, the largest settlement for food delivery workers ever secured in American municipal history, and a landmark win for those who have been mistreated and abused for years with nowhere to turn.
City Hall will not sit idly by while a mega corporation that made nearly a billion dollars in profits last year rips off the working people who keep our city moving.
Thanks to the work of DCWP, DoorDash will now have to pay more than $115 million directly to more than 260,000 delivery workers. No worker will have to file a claim or submit evidence. Our administration has already identified who is owed, and in late October, workers will receive an email detailing their exact amount.
But we know accountability does not end when a check clears. That is why, as the deputy mayor said, for three years, DoorDash must also send DCWP detailed data every month to check compliance on minimum pay, maximum distance, trip disclosures, and pay and tip transparency.
To ensure those numbers are accurate, we are relying on the people who know this work best, the workers themselves. As you have heard, the Workers Justice Project and the Workers Algorithm Observatory are engineering software that lets delivery workers record the DoorDash app and share it directly with the city.
For the first time, workers will have the power to crowdsource data and investigate the black box algorithms that dictate their schedules and pay. DoorDash cannot prevent or penalize a worker for using this tool. And if DoorDash tries, we will fast-track any retaliation case to get that worker reinstated.
Today's win builds on the work we have been doing since January to ensure that every delivery worker is paid what they are owed. That includes a settlement of more than $5 million in back pay and penalties from Uber Eats, HungryPanda and Fantuan and more than a $104 million won in additional tips.
To every delivery worker: Check your email in late October at the address you last used with DoorDash. If you have questions about what you are rightfully owed, go to nyc.gov/doordash. And to any corporation that has built a business model on greedy algorithms and worker exploitation, consider this your notice.
If you keep trying to rip off New Yorkers, we will be happy to make history again. This is New York City, where hard work pays and greed will cost you. Thank you.
And now, with that, if you will, please join me in welcoming someone without whom we would not be able to stand here today, our commissioner of DCWP, Sam Levine.
Samuel A. A. Levine, Commissioner, Department of Consumer and Worker Protection: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. What a great day. We are in excellent company today. I'm grateful to be joined, of course, by the mayor, by a champion for workers, Julie Su, Deputy Mayor Julie Su, soon-to-be Congressman Lander, as well as our steadfast allies on the Council, Harvey Epstein, Sandy Nurse, Jennifer Gutiérrez and Shaun Abreu.
But most importantly, I am thrilled to be here with the delivery workers who make our city run, Los Deliveristas Unidos, without whom this victory would not have been possible. I am incredibly proud today to announce this historic victory for New York City workers.
As the mayor said, our action against DoorDash is the largest labor enforcement action in New York City history. We're covering more than $131 million, with $115 million of those dollars going directly into the pockets of hardworking deliveristas workers who were denied the pay that they earned.
But as grand as that figure sounds, this case has really humble origins. It began when ordinary delivery workers, some on the stage, came to our department concerned that DoorDash was paying them late or not paying them at all.
They stepped forward despite the risks to themselves, despite the constant threat of deactivation, and despite the cynicism so many people understandably feel about whether the government can actually deliver for them.
Then, DCWP's lawyers and investigators got to work. Through interviews with dozens of workers and rigorous analysis of billions of rows of pay data, we found for years that DoorDash had underpaid thousands of deliveristas for their work and failed to pay thousands more on time.
I think there are a few important lessons in what happened next. First, this validates Mayor Mamdani's historic investment in DCWP, the largest investment in worker protection in the history of New York City.
This investigation began during the last administration, but thanks to the mayor's investment, we were able to accelerate our work dramatically. And DoorDash understood, as every company operating in the city should now understand, that if we could not reach an agreement that made workers whole, we were prepared to take them to court.
It's clear that the mayor's investment in enforcement is already paying dividends directly into workers' pockets. But this case stands for more than that. This case shows that in New York City, the collective power of workers can still prevail against concentrated corporate power.
So-called gig companies built a business model around isolating workers, making it harder for them to organize, harder for them to bargain collectively, harder to even know what the worker next to them was — whether they were being paid more or less for the same job.
Algorithms, greedy algorithms, made that model ever more powerful. They allowed companies to make millions of individualized decisions about workers, their pay, their assignments, even whether they could continue working, while workers themselves were left in the dark.
This case rejects that model. It shows what happens when workers stand together, as we see behind me, and when they are backed by a City government relentlessly committed to enforcing their rights.
Because in New York City, algorithms don't make the rules; the people do. And that principle is reflected in the settlement itself.
I spent years as a federal regulator watching large technology companies mislead the government, ignore court orders and cheat consumers and workers. And too often, government responded by outsourcing compliance monitoring to expensive consultants, sometimes the very firms seeking business from the companies they were supposed to monitor.
We're doing something a little different here in New York City. DoorDash will be required to regularly submit data to DCWP, where our own staff will analyze it to make sure workers are being paid what the law requires.
But we're not stopping there. Working with the Workers Justice Project and the Workers Algorithm Observatory, we are engineering software allowing workers to share their own DoorDash data directly with DCWP.
That gives us an independent way to detect underpayment, compare what the company tells us with what the workers are actually experiencing and take swift enforcement actions if those numbers don't match.
I'm enormously proud that we are putting this power not in the hands of management consultants, but in the hands of workers themselves. And that brings me back to where this case began, with the workers who knew something was wrong and were willing to speak up about it.
DoorDash had the technology, the data, the enormous power, the greedy algorithm over the people who worked on its platform. But workers had each other. And they had a government willing to listen, to investigate and to act.
Workers spoke up, we followed the facts, and together we turned billions of rows of corporate data into tens of millions of dollars back in workers' pockets.
This is truly what happens when workers stand together and government has their back. And I'm so grateful to everyone here for making this victory happen. Thank you so much.
Deputy Mayor Su: Our next speaker is Council Member Harvey Epstein.
Council Member Harvey Epstein: Who's got the power?
Crowd: We've got the power!
Council Member Epstein: Who's got the power?
Crowd: We've got the power!
Council Member Epstein: Thank you all for being here. For folks who don't know me, my name is Harvey Epstein, Council member in District 2. And I really wanna thank the mayor, the deputy mayor, the commissioner about the work that they're doing.
We talked earlier in the year about the need to have more power, more tools that are disposable to do this type of enforcement action. And the mayor and the deputy mayor listened, and this is historic investment in DCWP. And it's really showing.
This year alone, I don't know, we've done six, seven, eight of these press conferences in a nine-month year where we're talking time and time again how workers are getting screwed over but government is here to respond.
This $131.5 million enforcement action against DoorDash, that is historic. I really want to thank the mayor for his leadership, for your team, putting this amazing team together to talk about how delivery workers day to day were getting abused. And now corporations are taking advantage.
DoorDash underpaid 260,000 workers, 260,000 New Yorkers who are low-wage workers just trying to survive. A corporation thought they'd take advantage of those individuals because they had no power. But today, we're sending a different message.
We're saying they have power because of organizations like Workers Justice Project. We're saying they have because of DCWP. We're saying they do have power because of the mayor of the City of New York. Those tools now are available to them.
I want to thank my Council colleagues because before I got here, we talked about changing the laws on minimum wage for workers. We're talking about rules around deactivation. And my colleagues who stand behind me were there on the forefront making sure that happened.
This partnership, this historic partnership, is transformative for low-wage New Yorkers. For New Yorkers who felt like or being forgotten. We are sending the message out to every single corporation that hires or engages with low-income New Yorkers. We're watching. We're gonna continue to watch.
And for those workers out there who hear us today, if you have a concern or you have a question, come forward. You have a city who's willing to listen. You have the Council that wants to hear from you because we together can make the difference for workers across the city.
This is a huge victory for low-income workers. And I want to make sure that people understand how huge this is. But this may not be the last one this month. This may not be the last — definitely not the last one this year.
So, workers and people out there know together we can fight for a better New York. Thank you all for letting me be here.
Deputy Mayor Su: Our next speaker is also someone without whom we would not be all standing here. It's the executive director of the Workers Justice Project, Ligia Guallpa.
Ligia Guallpa, Executive Director, Workers Justice Project: Thank you so much to the mayor, the deputy mayor, the commissioner, the council members and everybody here who has had Workers Justice Project and workers' backs since day one. And today is not just a beautiful day — it's a powerful day for workers who have been fighting for years, are seeing the power of their organizing and are seeing justice being delivered to them.
My name is Ligia Guallpa, and I'm the executive director of the Workers Justice Project, which is the home of Los Deliveristas Unidos. And let me tell you who Los Deliveristas Unidos are. It's a powerful union of app delivery workers who took to the streets when the city shut down. Organized. Built power. Fought for respect, for new rights.
And today, that organizing has led to a historic victory, a $131 million settlement — putting hard-earned wages back into the hands of their families and their homes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor Mamdani. Thank you, Commissioner. Thank you, Deputy Mayor Julie Su and the entire DCWP team who have been standing since day one against corporate greed, helping make this victory possible.
Thank you for building a true partnership where workers can trust their City government that will stand and will fight for them. But also, thank you to Los Deliveristas Unidos, the workers, the leaders. First and [foremost], Rosendo, who had the balls and the courage to stand up to DoorDash.
And then to the organizers who are agitating in the street, to all the workers saying you also need to come forward: Antonio, Alejo, William, Jose, Abu Bakar, Selu, Riaj, Maria and also Amadou and the entire team who work every day to build that bridge of trust between workers and their city government.
And we know that's not easy. It takes enormous courage from a deliverista, a leader and a worker, to look in the eyes of another worker and say the following: Let's trust our city government when the federal government has abandoned them. Let's organize and protest against greedy corporations like DoorDash when ICE is targeting them in their own streets. Let us speak up about corporate abuse, even when their own apps are threatening to retaliate and fire them.
These are the workers and the leaders that took those risks. They protested outside of DoorDash when ICE was around. They spoke to the press even when they had fear of deactivation and potential ICE targeting. And they kept showing up, demanding the pay, respect and justice they deserve. And today, this city government, this administration, this commissioner have shown workers that their trust has not been misplaced — that this is what true partnership looks like.
Government is standing with workers, workers building power, and together creating conditions for workers who keep organizing and for fighting back for everything they deserve.
And let this message go directly to Uber Eats, GrubHub, DoorDash, and every little tiny corporation that is trying to grow big in this city: Don't mess with Los Deliveristas Unidos. Do not mess with angry, pissed-off workers. We will organize. We will fight back. We will definitely come after you.
And it is time for every app to end unjust deactivation because, oh yeah, we're coming after you. And make sure you give workers everything they demand, but particularly the dignity and the respect they deserve.
Because of you, workers, deliveristas, leaders, we will have power in the city. And let's make it clear to the apps: You're messing with the wrong New Yorkers. Not in our city, not in our streets, not with the deliveristas. This is our city. This is our power.
Deputy Mayor Su: As you've already heard, every enforcement effort by government is a partnership with workers willing to come forward, even when there's great risk, maybe especially when there is great risk.
And our next speaker is Rosendo Tacam, one of those workers.
Rosendo Tacam: Buenos días. Mi nombre es Rosendo Tacam. Soy deliverista, miembro de Los Deliveristas Unidos. Hoy es un día histórico para mí y para miles de deliveristas que llevamos años luchando esta victoria. Significa mucho más para nosotros porque, a pesar de todo lo que vivimos en las calles, hoy sabemos que no estamos solos. Tenemos un alcalde que está a nuestro lado y una agencia como DCWP que nos escucha, nos respalda y defiende nuestros derechos.
Gracias a hacer posible esta victoria y hacer justicia. Más de $100 millones regresarán a los bolsillos de nuestras familias — para pagar renta, comprar comida, salir adelante.
En caso, en caso mío, los dos mil dólares que voy a recibir, voy a usar este dinero para pagar seguro de mi moto, comprarme mejor equipo de trabajo. Ya viene el invierno, necesito estar bien abrigado y protegido. Para poder seguir trabajando como deliverista y llevando comida a esta ciudad, a cada hogar, con mucho respeto.
Y tengo un mensaje para DoorDash, Uber Eats, GrubHub y a todas las compañías: nos podrán robar nuestras propinas y nuestro pago, humillarnos y tratarnos como si no valiéramos nada. ¡Pero jamás nos van a quitar nuestra dignidad, nuestra voz ni nuestro poder con los Deliveristas Unidos!
Que lo sepan bien, vamos con todo y por todo lo que nos merecemos. Vamos a seguir organizándonos, luchando hasta que aprendan a respetar.
Esta vez ganamos en grande. Pero esto no es suficiente porque merecemos mucho más. Esto es solo el comienzo.
Y para mis compañeros deliveristas, esta victoria se ganó en la calle porque no nos dejamos, porque nos organizamos y porque nos unimos. Nada de lo que hemos ganado ha sido regalado. Esta es nuestra victoria y la ganamos juntos.
Y si nos roban a uno, nos roben a todos. Sigamos unidos porque en nuestra unión está nuestro poder. No estamos solos. La unión hace la fuerza para que nos respete y nos dé lo que nos merece.
Esta victoria es nuestra. Sí se pudo, compañeros. Sí se puede. ¡Sí se pudo! ¡Gracias!
Question: Just so we get the math right, it's 260,000 deliveristas; thus, that's about $500 apiece. Is that correct? And when we've done any stories in the past that have involved inequality regarding delivery workers, the comptroller had been part of this. And the former comptroller — we've done many stories with him about this very thing. Did it play any role in conjunction with DCWP?
Mayor Mamdani: I will let our commissioner add some specific details, but before doing so, what I will say is you are correct that this is about roughly 260,000 workers. Of those, more than 27,000 will be receiving more than $1,000. About a little over 4,000 will receive more than $5,000.
And what this speaks to is not only the largest delivery workers' settlement action in municipal history, but also New York City's largest-ever labor enforcement action. And what is so exciting is, as you've heard other speakers say today, we know that more than $115 million will go directly to workers.
And then of the remaining $16 million — it's civil penalties, it's costs, it's also the kind of investment that is required to create the app that the workers will now be able to use to record their experience with DoorDash. Because what we're looking for is to not just protect these workers, not just to protect the incredible worker who stepped forward, but also to protect every worker that joins this workforce in the days, weeks, months and years to come.
Commissioner, if you want to add anything —
Commissioner Levine: I would just say briefly that we work closely with the comptroller on these cases all the time. This is one that we did on our own. Our new research and analytics division, which we announced the launch of last week, played a key role in crunching these numbers and delivering this victory for tens of thousands of New York City workers.
Question: You talked about the software that is being developed to track worker complaints. How long has that been in the works for, and what's the plan to get it up and running fully? Because DoorDash only has to comply for this for the next three years. So, what's the plan there?
Commissioner Levine: Well, let me just start by saying DoorDash's obligations to comply with the settlement start today. We're not waiting for the software to be developed. DoorDash will be obligated to submit regular reports to us, much more granular than they have to do under the ordinary minimum pay law. We are also requiring DoorDash to regularly attest under oath that they are in compliance with the law.
With respect to the app, this is something we've been thinking about for a long time. I mentioned in my remarks my experience in Washington, where I saw companies like Meta ignore court orders over and over and over again [and] treat the law as a suggestion. That isn't gonna be how things go in New York City.
That's why we were so intent on giving workers the power themselves to collect this data [and] transmit it to us so we can respond to violations. We're gonna roll out that software as soon as possible. You know, we now have the funding to put it in place, but DoorDash's obligation to follow the law starts today.
Mayor Mamdani: And just before we go to the next question, I want to just add that this is also part of a larger commitment to holding these delivery companies accountable. You have heard many of us on this stage and beyond speak about the importance of interrogating the algorithms that are behind the incentives for delivery workers when they make their deliveries and what they are pushed to do.
I just want to invite up our City Council member, Shaun Abreu, who's been a real champion and [has] focused on how to hold these kinds of companies accountable — in case you have anything you want to add.
Council Member Shaun Abreu: Well, thank you for calling me, Mr. Mayor. I think that what the commissioner has done as well with doing information sharing with the DA's office has also been important for DCWP. Data sharing has been important in terms of enforcement actions, not only on the civil level but also [for] criminal penalties as well.
The Council has done a lot with tipping transparency laws. We've done a lot with pay transparency as well. And there's the commissioner's job, and he's doing a great job at enforcing those laws and giving it teeth. And so, [I'm] looking forward to that continuing. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Question: So, I have one quick question, which is, is this new data going to be made public just like the other data is each quarter? And then my second question is, you know, all of these delivery workers are on the streets navigating the cycling infrastructure, they're riding bikes and mopeds, and they're dealing with the dangers of riding bikes in the city. Do you see these kinds of settlements as related to street safety and to your Vision Zero Safe Systems approach goals?
Mayor Mamdani: I think that they are all part of how we can protect workers, because we know that it is delivery workers who spend the most amount of hours on our streets. They are the most exposed to either the presence or the absence of street safety infrastructure. And we want to make sure that not only are delivery workers being paid for the work that they do, not only are we holding app companies accountable to the law here in our city, but also that delivery workers are safe when they are using our streets.
And, you know, one of the reasons that I wanted to acknowledge our City Council member, Sandy Nurse, who was just here with us, was that one of the other things we've heard from delivery workers is: Can they access a bathroom?
And the other day, when the mayor of Mexico City was here, we met with a number of members of the Workers Justice Project, and one of the things that they proudly showed was a bathroom access card, a reflection of the fact that here in New York City, it is now the law that if you are delivering for a restaurant, you are allowed to use the bathroom of that restaurant. So all of this to us is part and parcel of it. Commissioner, the question on the—
Commissioner Levine: A lot of the data DoorDash is going to be turning over is proprietary, so it won't be made public. And I think that speaks to what is so remarkable about the settlement. Council passed a really strong minimum pay rate law. It's complicated, though. The mayor has been committed to a government that can actually hold these companies accountable — that's not afraid of complicated problems.
And one of the things I'm really proud of is that we have some of the best data scientists and economists in the world — we're recruiting, by the way [at] nyc.gov/jobs — who are able to actually crunch — I mean, think about all the delivery data New York City generates. Folks all over the city delivering thousands of packages every day — we're gonna be able to track that to a very granular level and make sure that this kind of mass underpayment doesn't happen again in New York City.
Question: Hi, uh, give me one second while I pull up my question. So, this could be answered by you or maybe the head of DCWP. Is there any concern — because Mr. Levine just said that this is proprietary data — is there any concern regarding this recording app that you guys have announced, that they might come back and say, "Well, that's our data; it's not theirs to even record." That they might sort of try to draw a line about it being theirs?
Mayor Mamdani: I'll say it in short, and then I'll pass it over to the commissioner to say it in long. No.
Commissioner Levine: You know, for too long we have had this economy where these app companies collect vast amounts of data on individual workers, but neither individual workers nor government enforcers have visibility into what's happening across the board.
What we're doing with this settlement is we are ending that asymmetry. We are recognizing for the workers behind me, the deliveries they make, that's their data. The pay they earn, that is their pay. The disclosures they get, those are their disclosures.
So, there's nothing inappropriate at all about having that data directly transmitted to us, and it's making sure that the kind of underpayment scheme we saw here is not gonna be repeated in this city. All right.
Question: Laura, go ahead. Thank you. I have a two-part question. The first is, as far as you're aware, have other apps like Uber and Grubhub been compliant under the minimum pay rule? And then could you tell us, as far as the use of these greedy algorithms go, is this a problem that's limited to delivery apps, or is this something that you're seeing at other kinds of companies and other kinds of industries since everything uses tech these days?
Mayor Mamdani: We are seeing across a number of different companies and a number of different industries a pursuit of profit no matter the cost. And we want to make it very clear that it does not matter how profitable your company is, how large your company, you have to abide by the laws of New York City.
They are not suggestions, they are requirements. And we are so appreciative of the workers who step forward and alert us to these violations because without them we would not have been able to put into place what is the largest labor settlement in New York City history.
And I'll pass it over to the commissioner to your first question.
Commissioner Levine: You know, this is absolutely a huge problem. One of the things I find interesting, and I wonder if the deputy mayor would agree with me, you know, in Washington, everyone's searching, but what are we gonna do about all these algorithms? What are we going to do about AI?
We're showing what to do right here in New York City. We're saying we don't care what the algorithm spits out. If you're a delivery worker, you're entitled to about $22 an hour in the city of New York.
And what this enforcement action shows is that we can actually deliver on that commitment to put money back in people's pockets. So this is a problem across the economy. And New York City is showing the way for how government can address it.
Question: The first question, are Uber and Grubhub compliant under the minimum pay rules, as far as you're aware?
Brad Lander, Congressional Nominee, New York's 10th Congressional District: Law — minimum pay law.
Commissioner Levine: Thank you to future Congressman Lander. It is indeed a law, and if they're not compliant, we're gonna have another big event like this one.
Question: What we're hearing from you and your commissioner this morning is that these are very clear algorithms, a very clear pursuit of corporate profits kind of under the radar and thinking that the law is an option, to quote what you said.
So, I just wanted to know if you can directly respond to how DoorDash is characterizing this: "Simply put, we screwed up. Our mistakes meant some Dashers were underpaid or paid late. While these mistakes weren't intentional, that doesn't make them okay. We pride ourselves in excellence."So, can you just speak directly to their statement?
Mayor Mamdani: Was that published on the Notes app?
Question: I mean, they're saying kind of like, "oops, my bad." Can you respond directly to what DoorDash is saying?
Mayor Mamdani: I've never heard someone describe $131.5 million settlement in that kind of a language. We are speaking about something that was sustained, something that was rampant for a quarter of a million workers, and something that would never have been acknowledged, let alone rectified, were it not for the courage of these very workers.
And we also know that when workers step forward, they are typically not welcomed in doing so. That is why we are also making clear that if any worker is retaliated against for the use of the app that we are now developing alongside Workers Justice Project, we're going to fast-track the retaliatory proceedings.
And to DoorDash, we want to make it very, very clear that we will continue to hold them accountable, as we will any other company, and we are not going to abide by the flagrant violation of the law. No matter the tone and the tenor of that kind of a statement.
[Crosstalk.]
Question: So, yesterday at your press conference, you mentioned that you and President Trump talked about the importance of the Police Department here. I'm wondering if you can elaborate a little bit on that, and I'm wondering if, off of your remarks on Sunday, if one of the areas you found common ground with the president on was a crackdown on quality-of-life concerns. I know you had talked about it on Sunday as a little bit different, trees, potholes, etc.; and the president has embraced some version of, like, broken-windows policing.So, I'm wondering if you found common ground in that area or others, regarding—
Mayor Mamdani: The conversation as it pertained to policing was just a shared appreciation of the men and women of the NYPD. My remarks on Sunday at the U20 forum were about the importance of responding to potholes that need to be paved over, trees that need to be planted, the concerns that New Yorkers have on their block. But the conversation with the president was a much just broader appreciation.
Question: I wanted to ask you right now, the City Council's holding an oversight hearing on the Signal chat and what went wrong there. Nobody from your administration actually showed up. I wanted you to know why and why your administration doesn't think it's important to show up to this type of an oversight hearing.
And then I also wanted to get your response. The prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, today put out something on social media. In particular, he said, in particular, that "Shame on you, Mr. Mamdani, shame on you for supporting the Hamas terrorist monsters who butchered our people. Shame on you for inciting riots against New York Jews. I'm coming to the U.N. I'm going to tell the truth about our heroic soldiers and I'm gonna tell the truth about you."And I wanted to get your response to that post as well.
Mayor Mamdani: Well, we all know that what the prime minister has said in that video is not true. What we do know to actually be the truth when it comes to the prime minister is that he is the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. And as the prime minister, he is the architect of a horrific genocide against Palestinians. And that just a few days ago, his military killed an 11-year-old boy in what is deemed to be a safe zone in Gaza. So, that is what I have to say to his video.
And then to your earlier question, as it pertains to Signal, you know, as I said alongside my chief counsel, our administration took corrective action to ensure that we're in accordance with the city's record-keeping laws. And I'm confident in the testimony that our administration is providing today, that it will be sufficient in answering the Council's questions.
[Crosstalk.]
Question: I had another follow-up question about your conversation with the president yesterday. There was some reaction to the Sunnyside Yard discussion from local Queens officials, Julie Won and Donovan Richards. And the Queens borough president basically said he thought that there were other better uses, maybe more efficient ways to build housing that didn't involve building a super-expensive platform over this rail yard.
And Council Member Won basically suggested, you know, the local community wasn't consulted. The gist was kind of you're planning this thing with Trump without including the neighborhood of Sunnyside. What would be a response to those reactions?
Mayor Mamdani: What we're speaking about would be the largest housing project in New York City since the early 1970s; the largest development in more than 50 years, which would construct 12,000 homes, 30,000 jobs. And as the president said himself yesterday, a significant number of those homes would be affordable to New Yorkers in terms of an intentional rate.
And to me, this is such a priority because of the fact that when we look at the cost-of-living crisis in our city, the number one driver is a lack of housing. And I will do everything in my power to build more housing in this city. And working with the president to fulfill an idea that has existed for 50 to 60 years; that to me is clearly an example of what could be done
Question: So, just following back up on the Israeli prime minister. So, you have called for his arrest, and you've called for the federal government to honor the ICC's warrant. Was this brought up with the president yesterday during your discussion at Gracie Mansion? And if it wasn't, why wasn't that brought up?
And then separately, just circling back to the influencer hearing that's happening with the Council members right now. So, there was a memo that we obtained that went out earlier this year from your chief counsel that explicitly said not to use WhatsApp or Signal — not with the caveat of if you have the permission.
So, how do you answer for the statement that was put out from City Hall afterwards that — from your lawyer, Ramzi Kassem — that they could use Signal with permission? Was this not being truthful? Was it not being understanding that this memo went out? I know there's a training also in March, so how do you score that, sir?
Mayor Mamdani: Well, I think to quote the chief counsel, there are trainings and there are retrainings, and that will continue because for us, being in accordance with the record-keeping laws of the City is of paramount importance. I will defer to the chief counsel to answer more specifically to your question.
When it comes to your first question, the focus of the conversation that I had with the president was New York City and New Yorkers. That is a conversation that spanned Sunnyside Yard, as the president said, about Haitian New Yorkers as well as an appreciation of our Police Department. And when it comes to the prime minister, though, I've made very clear where I stand on that.
Question: So, it didn't come up? You did not bring it up?
Mayor Mamdani: Focus was on the city.
Question: I want to ask about the Horizons Juvenile Facility in the Bronx. Today, Council Member Stevens and the Legal Aid Society, as well as other community members, are having another visit of the site. They visited back in July. I asked you if you were planning to visit yourself. You said that you were working internally on setting something up and making changes regarding the oversight of overcrowding, security and safety.
Were you invited to go on this tour today? Have you set a date to go see the facility, and what internal conversations are you having about making changes and addressing, particularly, the overcrowding and the safety in that facility?
Mayor Mamdani: So, since you last asked me that question, I did visit the facility. I visited both Horizon and Crossroads. And we are firmly committed to not only providing the staff there with the support that they need but also ensuring that we are in full compliance because this is critically important in living up to not only the intent that we have of our administration, but also the importance of ensuring that we are providing all of the kinds of services that young people in detention need.
Question: When did you go to the facility, and what did you observe there?
Mayor Mamdani: I think it was maybe about a little more than a month ago. I can get back to you on the exact dates of it. What I observed there is both the improvements that our ACS staff have been able to deliver with newfound support, as well as the need for this to be something that is sustained.
And we need to provide, not only, you know — I was able to go with a number of the New Yorkers who are being held there into something called Elite Lounge, where they're being taught skills about — I think on that day it was running what was effectively a coffee shop.
I saw the recreation area. I saw the incredible artwork that a lot of those young people have come together to be a part of. There was also, they were preparing for a karaoke competition and so I heard a song that they were putting together.
But to me, these are young people who at some point will be returning home, and we need to ensure that they are equipped with the skills, the education, the training, so that they can flourish in our society. We're committed to doing that.
Question: Yesterday we heard the president say a word he doesn't use often, which is affordable. You mentioned that earlier. He's previously called it a "hoax," a "con job," things like that. Do you think he's changed or shifted on the issue, at least the rhetoric? Do you take any credit for that? How do you approach kind of that question of affordability with him?
And then I'd love to get specifics on this. When you think of Sunnyside Yard and the affordable aspect of it, kind of what percentage of affordable housing are we thinking there, what's a goal for you?
Mayor Mamdani: You know, I want to be honest with you that that is exactly the reason why we're setting up the conversations at the highest level between our housing operations teams, as well as the White House, which is what the president and I agreed to do coming out of yesterday's meeting.
It will be a focus, however, is developing that scale of housing, ensuring that a significant portion is affordable, and also constructing what will effectively be an entirely new neighborhood in New York City. Because, as we know, one of the most difficult things in our city is to find land. And what this project would do is effectively create new land by creating a structure atop what is currently a rail yard.
And then to your first question, what I've said publicly and also said to the president is anything that could help a working New Yorker's life, that's what I want to focus on. That's what I want to talk about. And I appreciated the president's consideration of that when it comes to building more housing than we've seen in the city since the early 1970s, and the importance of stability in Haitian New Yorkers' lives and just how critical of a role they play in this city, not only as New Yorkers, but also as the New Yorkers who are oftentimes powering our economy, whether it is in health care, hospitality, construction.
And I shared that I'm hearing this not only from those New Yorkers, not only from my personal experiences of seeing and meeting these New Yorkers, but also from their pastors, from developers, from the executives of hospitals, from across the board in the city.
Question: Discussed any other parts of your affordability agenda with him? You know, groceries, freezing the rent, anything else related to that, or is it just specifically housing?
Mayor Mamdani: It's a wide-spanning conversation. Housing tends to be the focus. Thank you all very much.