Exclusive | Amazon has vowed to fire thousands of NYC workers if Mamdani labor bill passes what experts say could happen

Amazon has vowed to close more than a dozen warehouses and shed thousands of workers across New York City over a labor bill being pushed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani — and the e-commerce giant is likely to make good on the threat if the controversial legislation is enacted, industry experts told The Post. The Delivery Protection Act would force Amazon to directly hire upwards of 5,000 delivery workers citywide who are currently employed by third-party contractors.Proponents say the legislation will increase workers’ pay and improve safety conditions at Amazon and other delivery firms including FedEx and DoorDash.But Amazon doesn’t directly employ delivery workers anywhere else in the country — and has a history of fiercely resisting efforts to change its policies in the US and abroad.

The result, according to experts, could be not only that those 5,000 delivery jobs move out of the city, but also that Amazon shutters its 15 last-mile warehouses in the Big Apple and fires the additional 2,000 workers that staff them.Early last year, Amazon closed seven warehouses in Quebec near Montreal amid a labor fight involving one of its last-mile facilities.The union, Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), had organized the 300 workers at a warehouse in the town of Laval.By March 2025, some 1,900 Canadians across seven warehouses and 2,800 delivery contractors for those facilities had lost their jobs. “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,’” said Marc Wulfraat, president and founder of Montreal-based logistics consulting firm, MWPVL International.

“When you look at Amazon’s global operations, they close buildings left, right and center when there is union activity.” According to real estate listings, the Montreal facilities are now vacant, with Amazon still paying rent on more than 1.6 million square feet of space that it spent hundreds of million...