New York City, NY – The Alliance of Substitutes and Paraprofessionals (ASAP), a new group of militants within the NYC United Federation of Teachers, held a “Para RESPECT Check Town Hall” over Zoom on Wednesday, September 16.

The meeting was held to hear the voices of paras, the most underpaid education workers in the city, on the new “RESPECT Check” legislation which recently became law and which led to a controversial lawsuit against NYC City Council by Mayor Mamdani’s office.

The UFT successfully lobbied city council members for two years to win paras a $10,000 bonus check, which every city council member voted in support of. When the bill reached Mayor Mamdani’s desk, he decided to sue, because he believes it violates state law on collective bargaining. If Mamdani’s lawsuit succeeds, paras will not get the $10,000 check.

According to New York’s “Taylor Law”, all increases in wages for public sector workers must be won through the collective bargaining process, instead of through local politics. However, the UFT says that it wrote the language of the bill to avoid this problem. Meanwhile, paras wait in limbo to see whether or not they will receive the check.

Among rank-and-file organizers within the UFT, there wasn’t an immediate consensus on how to move forward. Some wanted to fight Mamdani’s lawsuit, others wanted to leave it and put more effort into rank and file organizing around a 2027 contract campaign.

The ASAP organizers recognized the heated nature of the moment and called for the town hall to hear the voices of paraprofessionals, those directly affected, on which direction to go next.

Over 50 educators joined the call, the vast majority being paras. Paras shared their thoughts and feelings on the RESPECT Check and other issues. Many voiced militant ideas about fighting for better pay and better working conditions.

Of the 14 different paras who spoke up at the town hall, nine supported the check and wanted to fight to retain it, while two did not. Three thought some other course of action should be taken.

Shamina Popy, one para on the call, said, “For me, the check is about more than just the money. It’s about recognizing the hard work paraprofessionals like me do every day for our students and our schools. We give so much of ourselves to support our students, and we deserve to have that work valued. The town hall was important because it brought us together and reminded us that we have a strong voice when we stand together. I believe we need to keep fighting for the check and continue making our voices heard.”

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New York, NY – A new, militant group of rank-and-file unionists formed within the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) this week, called “ASAP – Alliance of Substitutes and Paraprofessionals”.

The new group, mainly consisting of members of the union’s reform caucus MORE (Movement of Rank-and-File Educators), was formed to meet a pressing need in the union. In the NYC Department of Education, substitute teachers, paraprofessionals and substitute paraprofessionals are the most neglected workers. So, union members are banding together to change this. In addition, the inequality in pay and conditions takes on a nationality, racial, and gendered character with many substitutes and most paraprofessionals being Black, Latino, immigrant and women.

While there are some groups which exist within the union to address certain specific issues that affect these education workers, such as Fix Para Pay, ASAP hopes to be the rank and file led option which really engages in militant fights on these issues.

Paraprofessionals are in the news lately, for many reasons. Most recently, Mayor Mamdani decided to sue NYC City Council for passing the Para RESPECT Check bill into law, which will provide a $10,000 bonus check for paras, which the UFT has been pushing for over the last two years. Additionally, the city’s Teacher Retirement System (TRS) attacked para retirees by demanding they make huge repayments due to a miscalculation on the part of TRS. Thankfully, this attack was partially routed by the UFT’s response via its legal team.

Meanwhile, substitutes do not have proper representation in the union. Most titles, such as teachers, social workers and paras, have their own chapters, whether based in the school or otherwise. Substitutes have no chapter of their own, which means there is no mechanism to formally represent their collective voice. Also, substitutes do not have representation on UFT’s executive board or at its delegate assembly, the union’s primary decision-making body.

Claude Copland, a member of ASAP and a substitute teacher in the Bronx, said, “As a long-term substitute teacher for almost five years now, I look forward to working with other subs and paras to help build a union that does not take any title for granted and wants to see the best outcomes for all their members.”

The Alliance of Subs and Paras vows to build the fight around these kinds of issues and will be holding related events.

ASAP is hosting a Para Town Hall, where paraprofessionals can gather to give their voice on what course of action to take with the recent lawsuit from the city against city council’s Para RESPECT Check. The event will take place over Zoom on September 16, at 6 p.m.

For more about the Alliance of Subs and Paras, follow them at: @nycsubparaalliance on Instagram.

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