LOWER MANHATTAN — Guided by a belief rooted in Catholic values of human dignity and care for workers, District 18 City Council Member Amanda Farías views the city’s latest investment for delivery workers as a moral responsibility.
“How are we showing up for those people, and how are they able to work in environments with dignity, safety, and protection?” Farías asked. “That always comes back to the truth that I was raised by as a Catholic and how we’re going to safeguard people.”
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On April 7, delivery workers and city leaders gathered near City Hall Park to open what they said is the nation’s first Deliverista Hub — a place that allows delivery workers 24-hour access to charge their e-bikes and phones, repair their bikes, and take shelter from any inclement weather.
The idea for the hub came from delivery worker Gustavo Ajche, who, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when drivers were working in hazardous conditions, saw potential in an abandoned newsstand outside City Hall.
“We’re so proud that finally we have a place where we can keep organizing delivery workers in New York City,” said Ajche, a delivery worker and co-founder of Los Deliveristas Unidos, an organization that advocates for app-based delivery workers.
Located at 249 Broadway, the hub was developed and built through the organizing of delivery workers alongside the Workers’ Justice Project, which will staff it.
Founded in 2010, the Worker’s Justice Project advocates for better working conditions and social justice in the workplace for New Yorkers. Although a secular organization, its fight for delivery workers aligns with the Church’s teachings on social justice. It organized Los Deliveristas Unidos with Ajche in 2020 to demand better labor conditions.
“It’s a huge community,” Ajche said. “When we talk about safety, this is going to be one of the main tools for us as Los Deliveristas Unidos to show the city how we are organizing and how we support our city.”
In October 2022, plans for the hub moved forward when then-Mayor Eric Adams and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer pledged to turn several unused, city-owned newsstands into rest stops for the city’s estimated 80,000 delivery workers. To fund the effort, Schumer secured $1 million in federal funding, but the project was delayed for more than 3 years due to bureaucratic obstacles and community resistance. However, Schumer noted that the situation positively shifted when Mamdani became mayor.
Farías applauded the project, knowing how much the city depends on delivery workers.
“This is critical infrastructure to have this hub,” Farías said. “It just shows how much we’re giving that direct investment and that thanks back to this group of people.”
Delivery work is turning into one of the city’s most dangerous jobs, with one in five workers injured on the job, and a fatality rate five times higher than construction, and the city is looking to create more hubs across the five boroughs to protect them.
“Our fight is for dignity, and this hub is one of the examples,” Ajche said. “If you [fight] for something and you persist, everything can be possible.”