For most of the past half century, workers’ rights and workplace protections have been sacrificed by corporations seeking to maximize their bottom lines. The result is ballooning inequality as corporate owners have been able to keep an increasing share of the fruits of workers’ productivity as profits, enriching themselves.
Street vendors are New York State’s smallest businesses, and they are an essential part of New York City’s cultural ecosystem and economy. Nearly 20,000 entrepreneurs, primarily immigrants, people of color, military veterans and women, are engaged in street vending, many existing as part of a shadow economy of workers unable to acquire necessary business licensing to legitimize their business.