‘Suit up for the backlash!’: The battle to regulate New York’s gig economy

Brad Lander: ‘They’re skilled political players.’ Photograph: Maria Spann/The Guardian

Two years ago, Brad Lander, arguably the second most powerful official in New York City, rode a bike six times around the perimeter of City Hall. Inside, his colleagues were debating a bill to institute a minimum wage for food delivery riders. Lander, now comptroller of New York, had joined a convoy of delivery drivers in support of a protest for basic rights and fair pay.

“They did six times around because there were six pieces of legislation,” Lander says, who as comptroller oversees New York’s mayoral budget. “I thought it should have been seven, because that’s how many times they went around Jericho in the Bible.”