PARA RESPECT CHECK PASSED -- Now what?
Dear UFT Members,
Happy Friday! We are interrupting your fabulous summer vacation or dynamic summer school experience to bring you some important news about the PARA RESPECT CHECK.
Yesterday (July 16) NYC City Council voted and approved the bill for the Para Respect Check. As written, the bill provides for a one-time $10,000 payment to all paraprofessionals, including subs (subs who do not work the entire school year will receive pro-rated payment for the days they did work). The $10,000 will be split into four equal payments. The breakdown looks like this:
Now that the bill has been passed by City Council, it heads to the desk of Mayor Mamdani to be signed into law. HOWEVER, there is a glaring issue with this bill that may result in a mayoral veto and/or litigation. Although the mayor has previously said he supports the bill and supports paying paras more, the dreadful Office of Labor Relations (OLR) has pointed out the bill is illegal and violates the Taylor Law. The Taylor Law requires that all raises to government workers in New York must be collectively bargained as part of a labor contract -- not created by local legislation. There is also the problem of every other union in NYC with low-paid workers (most notably the very large and relatively powerful DC 37). Those unions are less than pleased that UFT President Michael Mulgrew has broken away from solidarity with other unions to do a special deal for UFT only, outside of collective bargaining. We can expect one or more of those unions to explore the option of suing, because the bill does not provide raises for them.
So could this still pan out, and could paraprofessionals still get the $10,000 Respect Check? The answer right now is a big MAYBE. This may take another 1-2 months to play out before we have a better idea of whether or not this bill will become a law. In the meantime, you can read more about the Para Respect Check here:
Chalkbeat: Council approves $10k perk for public school paraprofessionals
Daily News: NYC Council approves $10K checks for teacher aides, Mamdani considers ‘next steps’
Daily News: Council paraprofessionals bill breaks N.Y. law
The Wire: The Newly Revised UFT Para Bill: The Promise That Kept Shrinking
I can never get past the fact that Michael Mulgrew during the last contract negotiations had $450 million to give paraprofessionals meaningful and pensionable increases that keeps up with the costs of inflation and he did nothing !
Everything else is now performative, and he has put paraprofessionals in the midst of a political and legal Maelstrom that could play out for months to come.
" The Taylor Law requires that all raises to government workers in New York must be collectively bargained as part of a labor contract -- not created by local legislation. "
From the moment I heard of this ridiculous legislation I asked why wasn't this happening at the negotiating table?!? It's because this is a Mumgrew / Unity shell game!