Socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who campaigned on raising pay for New York's lowest-paid school workers, now calls a $10,000 payment to teacher aides making roughly $32,500 a year a "direct violation" of labor law — and working-class paraprofessionals are left wondering which Mamdani shows up to work.
The New York City Council voted 49-0 Thursday to approve workforce stabilization payments of up to $10,000 for school paraprofessionals during the 2026-2027 school year. Only two members were absent. But Mamdani, the democratic socialist who championed these exact raises during his 2025 mayoral run, changed his tune once he was the one signing the checks, insisting the pay bump should have gone through collective bargaining.
"Paraprofessionals show up every day for NYC's most vulnerable kids, and it's time NYC showed up for them," Council Speaker Julie Menin said in a statement. Mamdani's response: his administration is "reviewing the final language carefully and working to determine the appropriate next steps."
Behind the unanimous vote is a familiar New York story — union bosses covering for their own failures, politicians jockeying for position, and working people caught in the middle.
The New York Post reported that United Federation of Teachers chief Michael Mulgrew was the driving force behind the bill, pushing council allies including Menin to bypass contract negotiations after he failed to deliver for paraprofessionals at the bargaining table. Mulgrew faced a bitter leadership challenge from former ally Amy Arundell last year, and sources say the bill gave him cover to look like he was fighting for the lowest-paid members he'd long neglected.
"If he was actually concerned about paras, he could have figured out a way to get them more pay," one source told the Post. Instead, Mulgrew secured up to $9,500 raises for teachers affected by a class size mandate delay — but nothing for the paraprofessionals.
The Staten Island Advance framed the vote as a straightforward council victory over mayoral opposition, noting that if Mamdani vetoes the bill, the council has the votes to override. The Post went further, revealing Menin's political calculus — she's reportedly positioning herself for a 2029 primary challenge to Mamdani and has used similar tactics before, championing a housing voucher expansion the mayor had previously supported.
Nicole Gelinas, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, warned the end-run around collective bargaining sets a dangerous precedent: "Are we going to do this with all unions who can't get a deal?"
The payments would layer on top of the Department of Education's $38.6 billion budget — the largest of any city agency — inside a $126 billion city budget. But for paraprofessionals earning a base salary of roughly $32,000 to $32,500 a year, the question isn't about precedent. It's about whether they can afford to keep showing up.
Mamdani has 30 days to sign the bill, veto it, or let it become law without his signature. One source put it plainly: "The mayor is kind of in a box now." Veto, and fight the council in court. Don't veto, and face every other union in the city running to the council for the same treatment.
When a socialist mayor and a union boss both claim to fight for workers but can't agree on how to actually pay them, the people who lose are the ones who can least afford it.
