The union that helped Mamdani get elected is now dragging him to court

A sharp conflict is developing in New York between Mayor Zohran Mamdani and one of the unions that assisted him on his path to office. The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) filed a motion last week to intervene in the legal proceedings against the city's lawsuit to stop a law granting school support staff payments of up to $10,000. The move comes after the union supported Mamdani in the 2025 elections, and while the mayor emphasizes that he himself does not oppose raising the workers' wages.

At the center of the dispute is the RESPECT Check law, which was approved unanimously and with bipartisan support in the New York City Council. The law is intended to grant payments of up to $10,000 to educational support staff, including staff members who assist students in need of support during the school day. The City Council noted that some of these workers earn a low annual sum of about $32,000.

However, the Mamdani administration turned to the court on August 9 in an attempt to stop the law from taking effect. According to the mayor, the legislation conflicts with the "Taylor Law" in New York State, which regulates, among other things, the rights of public employees and the manner in which collective bargaining is conducted on issues such as wages and employment conditions.

This position sparked opposition from the UFT, the city's largest teachers' union. Last week, the union filed a request to intervene in the legal proceedings, thereby preparing to defend the law in court if the Mamdani administration continues its attempt to block it.

"We knew this lawsuit was a possibility and we were prepared," said union president Michael Mulgrew. According to him, the law was carefully drafted so as not to violate the Taylor Law. He added that the City Council would not have promoted the move had it believed it was illegal, and that the union itself would not have supported legislation that endangers its members' collective bargaining rights.

Mulgrew also directed a message to the mayor: "This moment is an opportunity for Mayor Mamdani to create a new and fairer system and to build the kind of city he said he wanted to lead. This administration must keep its promises, and we will not stop until it does."

The conflict has significant political weight: the UFT supported Mamdani after he won the Democratic nomination for mayor in July 2025. Furthermore, in testimony submitted by Mulgrew to the City Council in November 2025, he said that Mamdani, who was then the mayor-elect, committed to supporting the law after taking office.

The City Council is also standing against the lawsuit. Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Council Member Carmen De La Rosa emphasized that all members of the body voted in favor of the law. According to them, a situation should not be accepted where workers who assist some of the students most in need of support earn about $32,000 a year. The Council announced that it will defend the legislation in court.

Mamdani, for his part, is trying to lower the flames. At a press conference last week, he said that the talks with the Speaker and the UFT were "productive," and clarified that the dispute does not stem from a principled opposition to raising the support staff's wages. "They were productive because we have a shared understanding regarding the critical role that support staff play in the public school system and in our city," said Mamdani.

Educational support staff in New York public schools accompany, among others, students in need of personal help during the school day. According to testimony submitted to the City Council on behalf of the UFT, the union represents about 26,000 workers in these roles. The current struggle is particularly notable due to the change in position attributed to Mamdani. Even before he took office, the UFT presented him as a supporter of the law, but now his administration has turned to the court against its implementation. Mamdani emphasizes that his goal is not to prevent higher wages but to deal with what he claims is a legal problem in the way the move was approved.

The City Council does not accept this claim. From its perspective, the law is also intended to deal with a manpower shortage in the system. Now, the dispute has become a political test in the relationship between Mamdani and a central union that supported him on the way to the mayoralty.