NYC Teaching Assistants Get $10,000 Pay Raises After City Council Vote

NEW YORK, NY— New York City teaching assistants are set to receive $10,000 pay increases after the City Council approved a measure that bypassed the traditional collective bargaining process.

The unanimous vote Thursday delivered a long-sought victory for the United Federation of Teachers, which has pushed for higher pay for paraprofessionals who work alongside teachers in city classrooms.

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The raises would cost the City an estimated $324 million.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who supported raising paraprofessional pay during his mayoral campaign, said he believes employee compensation should be settled through negotiations between the City and unions rather than through legislation.

“I want to first just underline the importance of paraprofessionals in our city in our education system,” Mamdani said. “The work that they do is critical.”

“I’ve also said that I believe that this is a matter that is best treated at the bargaining table.”

Mamdani’s comments signaled he could consider blocking the measure, but the City Council passed the bill with enough support to override a veto.

Council Speaker Julie Menin said lawmakers had already attempted to secure raises through the normal budget and bargaining processes.

“We have more than enough votes to do an override,” Menin said. “I really hope it does not come to that, to do a veto of a bill that is raising salaries for paras literally making $32,000 a year,”

Critics of the legislation said the issue extends beyond paraprofessional pay.

The Citizens Budget Commission warned that allowing lawmakers to approve union raises outside collective bargaining could encourage other unions to seek similar treatment.

Ana Champeny, the commission’s vice president for research, told the NY Post that bypassing negotiations could weaken the process cities use to balance worker compensation with financial limits.

A former City Hall labor negotiator, who requested anonymity, described the move as “stupid, but legal.”

“No union will ever do collective bargaining if they could just go to the legislature and get what they want,” the source told the Post.

Supporters of the bill argued the existing bargaining system has failed some of the city’s lowest-paid workers.

Council Member Lincoln Restler said in the vote's hearing that lawmakers preferred a negotiated solution, but argued that the current system does not adequately address workers earning the least.

“It has become unfortunately apparent over many years, that pattern bargaining is failing the lowest-paid workers in city government," Restler said.

Restler said percentage-based raises often benefit higher-paid employees more because the same percentage increase produces a larger dollar amount for workers earning higher salaries.

“If you’re well compensated and you’re making over $100,000 a year, a 3 percent raise is great,” Restler said. “But the nature of pattern bargaining really expands upon, exacerbates the inequities that exist in compensation in New York City.”

He said city officials should create a system to identify and prioritize underpaid municipal workers.

“Until that happens, we can’t afford not to act,” Restler said.

The fight over paraprofessional pay now raises a larger question for New York: Should salary increases for public employees come only through union negotiations, or should elected officials step in when they believe the bargaining process falls short?

The answer could affect future labor negotiations across city government.