Mamdani sues to block new NYC law boosting teaching assistants’ pay by $10K

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Mayor Zohran Mamdani filed suit Wednesday to block a new city law boosting paraprofessionals’ pay by $10,000 — initiating a major standoff with the powerful teachers’ union that represents them.

Mamdani spokesman Matt Rauschenbach said the law — which took effect Wednesday without the mayor’s signature after unanimously passing the City Council last month — was an illegal end-run around the union’s collective bargaining with the administration.

“Collective bargaining is how working people make their voices heard and win the wages, benefits and protections they deserve. It’s a fundamental pillar of a fair economy,” Rauschenbach said in a statement.

The mayoral rep then slammed the council for setting a “dangerous precedent” by undermining labor negotiations.

“Instead of protecting that process, the City Council has passed legislation that undermines collective bargaining and sets a dangerous precedent: allowing politicians to bypass workers and their unions and dictate the terms of employment themselves,” Rauschenbach said. “A one-time payment does not solve the underlying, long-term pay inequities facing paraprofessionals.” 

The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, also accuses the United Federation of Teachers-backed bill of ignoring “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, such as compensation.”

The “Respect for Paraprofessionals” law “improperly mandates” that the city Department of Education pay approximately 25,000 paraprofessionals — teaching assistants who help students with disabilities —  up to $10,000 each.”

It could cost the city approximately $324 million, according to the suit.

“Although the Council labels these ‘stabilization payments, they effectively function as stipends or salary bonuses and, regardless of terminology, are an additional form of compensation and, as such, a mandatory subject of bargaining,” said the suit, filed by Assistant Corporation Counsel Zachary Ellis.

The labor law balances the school paraprofessionals’ desire for additional compensation with the DOE’s “limited fiscal capacity,” the suit said.

“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 and the City — and, by extension, the tax-paying public,” the filing states.

“If the Paraprofessional Pay Bill is allowed to stand, other public employees will undoubtedly seek their own ‘stabilization payments from the Council, also outside of the collective bargaining process, or otherwise use Council proposals for such payments as leverage over that process.”

The action is a sharp reversal for the mayor — compared to his campaign promises.

During his successful run for mayor last year, Mamdani promised to approve legislation to boost pay for paras as he appeared at a press conference where he accepted the endorsement of the UFT.

“I will be proud to continue to support the passage of Intro Bill 1261 … that addresses the fact that there are too many open positions right now for paraprofessionals across the city because that job simply doesn’t pay enough,” Mamdani said then, with UFT President Mike Mulgrew standing behind him.

Earlier Wednesday, Mulgrew, who pushed for the council to pass the “Respect for Paraprofessionals” bill, boasted that the measure had been enacted into law, after Mamdani refused to act on it.

“Our paraprofessionals made this happen,” Mulgrew said. “We thank Council Speaker Julie Menin, Labor Chair Carmen De La Rosa and the Council members who fought so hard to get this law passed and address a long-standing injustice.”

In a note to paraprofessionals — teaching assistants who help students with disabilities — Mulgrew said they could expect the $10,000 bump in four installments of $2,500 each on January 1, 2027, March 1, June 1 and August 1.

Starting pay for paras is $33,000 and reaches $56,000 after 15 years. But Mulgrew cautioned that Mamdani could decide to challenge the legislation in court, claiming it violates labor law governing collective bargaining.

“We are prepared for this. The bill was drafted carefully to ensure that it does not violate the state Taylor Law, which governs collective bargaining,” Mulgrew said in the notice to paras.

“We hope it won’t come to this, but if it does, we are prepared to engage in a legal fight for the RESPECT check and the paraprofessionals who keep our schools running.”

Mamdani’s opposition parroted that of government watchdogs, who slammed the para pay legislation as a dangerous precedent that gives the green light to other unions to sidestep collective bargaining and appeal to the council to settle pay dispute and drive up costs to the city.

“We will not allow the political process to replace the collective bargaining table,” Rauschenbach, the Mamdani spokesman said.

“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 said.

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“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.”

Menin, the council speaker, defended the para pay law in response to the lawsuit.

“Every member of the Council, in a unanimous and bipartisan vote, supported the RESPECT Check Act because it is unacceptable that paraprofessionals who support some of our highest-need students are earning as little as $32,000 a year,” she said in a joint statement with De La Rosa.

“This law is not only the right thing to do, it is also the fiscally responsible thing to do, helping address the staffing shortages that contribute to the City’s $1.5 billion in Carter case costs. The Council will vigorously defend the law.