Mamdani Wants To Block a Law Giving Teachers’ Aides $10,000 Bonuses. The Teachers Union Is Not Happy.

The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) is facing an unlikely opponent: New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. 

On August 19, Mamdani sued New York City Council over a UFT-backed law that would give teachers’ aides (also called paraprofessionals) a one-time $10,000 bonus. The bonus would be a substantial jump in pay for the city’s paraprofessionals, who earn as little as $33,000 a year. 

The New York City Council unanimously passed the legislation, called the RESPECT Check Act, in July, and it became law on August 19 without a signature or veto from Mamdani, reported Chalkbeat. That same day, New York City Hall filed a lawsuit attempting to block the law. Then, on August 25, the UFT filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit. 

Mamdani’s lawsuit against the City Council largely details procedural concerns. In its complaint, the city argues that “the bill ignores nearly sixty years of well-established collective bargaining process under the Taylor Law—which requires that public employers and unions negotiate in good faith on mandatory subjects of bargaining.” 

The lawsuit also warns that “by circumventing that process and attempting to increase pay for school paraprofessionals by legislative fiat (at a cost, by its own conservative estimate, of $324.9 million), the Council has set a perilous and unlawful precedent with huge fiscal consequences for the DOE [Department of Education of the City School District of the City of New York] and the City—and, by extension, the tax-paying public.”

A spokesperson for the mayor, Matt Rauschenbach, echoed these collective bargaining concerns. He said the administration would “not allow the political process to replace the collective bargaining table.”

“The City is filing a lawsuit to protect the right of every union to negotiate on behalf of its members, to fight for the workplace they deserve and ensure that workers – not politicians – determine their own futures,” he added in his statement.  

The mayor, hardly the poster child for fiscal responsibility, is right to highlight the bill’s serious fiscal consequences. In July, the Citizens Budget Commission (CBC), a nonpartisan civic watchdog group, released a statement opposing the bill, estimating “it would add $325 million in spending just two weeks after the budget was adopted.”

“If this bill becomes law, other unions may also seek legislation to increase compensation beyond what they collectively bargained,” the CBC added. “That would weaken the bargaining process, increase pressure for additional off-cycle compensation, and expose the City to substantial future costs.”

The bill’s lead sponsor, City Council member Carmen De La Rosa (who estimated the costs would be $250 million) argued that the costs would be justified, reported News 12 Brooklyn. In a joint statement with City Council Speaker Julie Menin, De La Rosa said the city has a paraprofessional job shortage, which has caused it to pay out $1.5 billion in settlements for failing to meet special education needs. 

As the New York Post editorial board suggested, Mamdani could raise paraprofessional pay “by finding the cash somewhere in the city’s bloated $39 billion schools budget and negotiating it in the next contract.” This would be ideal. But given his budget increases for the education department (even as New York City public school enrollment declines), he may cover the costs in the future by asking more of taxpayers without eliminating waste.