The fight over a one-time bonus for underpaid school workers has seemingly reversed the political dynamics of New York City in the Mamdani era.
On the side of the Respect Check bill, which would give paraprofessionals in city public schools a $10,000 bonus, are City Council Speaker Julie Menin, the centrist defender of the city’s rich from Mamdani’s attempts to raise their having their taxes raised, and United Federation of Teachers (UFT) president Michael Mulgrew, who has long treated paras as an afterthought. On the other side, the heralded socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani, who likes to shout out every working-class
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