The Mamdani administration said it would sue over a law that went into effect Wednesday giving paraprofessionals in New York City schools an extra $10,000.
The City Council unanimously passed the “Respect Check” legislation in July, after union leaders rallied for better pay for the teachers’ aides. They argue paraprofessionals are not properly compensated for the work they do supporting students with special needs in the classroom.
The law took effect Wednesday without Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s signature. Under city law, the mayor has 30 days to either sign or veto a bill.
But the announcement of the lawsuit raises uncertainty whether the law will go into effect as expected.
Matt Rauschenbach, a spokesperson for the mayor, said the city agrees that paraprofessionals are underpaid, but the raise via the City Council undermines the collective bargaining process and “sets a dangerous precedent,” and is an issue the mayor had previously raised.
“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,” Rauschenbach said. “We will work towards a quick resolution that respects workers, protects the City’s finances, and ensures that the Council does not interfere with collective bargaining in the future.”
Rauschenbach added that the city wants to “permanently address this inequity” in conversation with the United Federation of Teachers, the powerful city teachers union that represents the paraprofessionals.
“I laugh at their arguments,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew said in an interview. “ We crafted the bill specifically to deal with the fact that they're trying to hide behind collective bargaining patterns to screw over their own workers.”
Mulgrew said the union would help defend the measure in court. “ They know it's legal, and they're just trying to buy time at this point,” he said.
Roughly 26,000 paraprofessionals were set to receive the first of four payments in January.
City data shows paraprofessionals’ salaries start at about $34,000, and are capped at around $54,000. Union officials said there were about 1,600 paraprofessional vacancies during the last school year. The union attributes the large number of vacancies to the pay.
The legislation can be reauthorized by the City Council each year if the city does not solve the staffing shortage through collective bargaining.
“This law is both the right thing to do and the fiscally responsible thing to do,” Menin said in a statement.
