New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration has sued the City Council to block a law granting $10,000 bonuses to school paraprofessionals, arguing the measure illegally bypasses collective bargaining.
The Bill in Question
The City Council unanimously passed the RESPECT Check Act in mid-July, offering a one-time $10,000 “workforce stabilization” bonus to each of the city’s school paraprofessionals, who assist students in special education and with disabilities and are among the lowest-paid city employees, typically earning around $32,000 a year.
The Mayor’s Argument
The lawsuit, filed August 19 in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, argues the bonuses amount to additional compensation that must be negotiated with the union representing paraprofessionals under New York’s Taylor Law, rather than set unilaterally by the City Council. “We will not allow the political process to replace the collective bargaining table,” a Mamdani spokesperson said.
Who’s on the Other Side
The United Federation of Teachers has filed a motion to intervene in the case. UFT President Michael Mulgrew said, “The City Council would not have introduced, let alone passed, this bill if it were illegal, and we would not have supported a bill that threatened our collective bargaining rights,” adding that the union “knew this lawsuit was a possibility, and we were prepared.” Mulgrew had threatened months earlier to wage “all-out war” if the mayor tried to block the bonuses, and the union endorsed Mamdani’s mayoral campaign in 2025.
The lawsuit puts Mamdani’s office at odds with City Council Speaker Julie Menin, the New York City Central Labor Council, and the United Federation of Teachers, all of whom backed the bill.
