$10K pay raise for paraprofessionals sparks clash between mayor and City Council
Just hours after a city council-approved bill granting paraprofessionals pay raises became law, Mamdani and his administration announced they would move forward with legal action to try to stop it on Wednesday.
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A dispute is brewing at City Hall as Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the City Council find themselves at odds over a one-time $10,000 pay bump for roughly 25,000 paraprofessionals who work for the Department of Education.
Just hours after a city council-approved bill granting paraprofessionals pay raises became law, Mamdani and his administration announced they would move forward with legal action to try to stop it on Wednesday.
A spokesperson from the mayor's office argues the city council undermined the collective bargaining process.
"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," said Matt Rauschenbach, a spokesperson for the mayor. "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."
The RESPECT check law was approved in July by an overwhelming majority, making it veto-proof. Under the law, paraprofessionals would receive $2,500 in four installments starting Jan. 1 to Aug. 1.
The starting salary for paraprofessionals in New York City is around $32,000. They are among the lowest-paid employees in the school system. Their job often includes caring for students with disabilities and is an integral part of the Individualized Education Program (IEP).
Mayor Mamdani and the City Council agree that paraprofessionals are significantly underpaid and deserve a raise. The disagreement is over how to deliver that pay increase. The Mamdani administration believes the score needs to be settled at the bargaining table when negotiations begin with the United Federation of Teachers.
"A one-time payment does not solve the underlying, long-term pay inequities facing paraprofessionals," Rauschenbach said.
City Councilmember Carmen De La Rosa was the lead sponsor of the bill and was a champion for paraprofessionals as it gained momentum in the council.
"We've heard of stories of paraprofessionals who are in homeless shelters, paraprofessionals who are at the brink of losing their housing and are being evicted from the city of New York. Could you imagine, in this city to make a living and put your family first, only making $32,000 a year? What's happening in this industry is that they're leaving," De La Rosa said.
De La Rosa estimates there to be a shortage of roughly 1,600 paraprofessionals and that those vacancies have led to a gap in services for students who depend on them.
"We put this bill forward as a response to that crisis," De La Rosa said. "There was no one who would fight harder for the right of collective bargaining to be at the heart of how our unions exist and how they protect workers. But we have to realize that there are moments in collective bargaining, like pattern bargaining, that create inequity in a system where the lowest paid workers are left behind by that pattern."
John Kamps, vice paraprofessional chair for the United Federation of Teachers, says the fight for pay wages is not new.
"We've been pushing for this for the last, almost three years. Right. They could have come to us and tried to have a sit-down and negotiated it where it would have been a piece of collective bargaining and put it into our contract, but that never came to pass," Kamps said.
Meanwhile, the Citizens Budget Commission, a non-partisan fiscal watchdog, agrees with the mayor that the bill sets a dangerous precedent for the other 100-plus collective bargaining unions in the city.
"To the extent that one is able to get additional compensation by going through the city council, you're creating an incredibly risky precedent that other unions will seek legislative recourse when they do not succeed at the bargaining table," said Ana Champeny, vice president for research for the Citizens Budget Commission.
Champeny also says it adds additional spending after the city budget was already passed.
"The city is fiscally challenged. So, we would just prefer to see these discussions happen through negotiations. Both the DOE, the city and the UFT," said Champeny.
De La Rosa argues that the cost is justified.
"I would argue that although this bill will cost $250 million, that is less than the $1.5 billion that we pay right now in Carter Cases and lawsuits that parents have to litigate against the City of New York because we're not meeting their mandates," said De La Rosa.
Meanwhile, the UFT says they are ready to fight alongside the City Council in court if it comes to that.
"We are in this lockstep with the City Council. We will help them fight in court, outside, whatever we need to do to make sure that this is understood and that this stays in place," said Kamps.
The mayor's office says they want to work towards a quick resolution that respects workers and protects the city's finances.
