Mayor Zohran Mamdani has sued the New York City Council to block a new law paying the city's teachers' aides bonuses of up to $10,000, arguing that the Council cannot set the wages of city workers outside collective bargaining.

The RESPECT Check Act became law Wednesday without the mayor's signature, and the city's Law Department filed suit hours later, The Center Square reported. The Council had passed the measure unanimously in mid-July with 47 co-sponsors, a veto-proof majority that left Mamdani no practical veto.

The law directs quarterly payments of $2,500 to roughly 26,000 paraprofessionals across the school year at a cost to the city of about $325 million. The workers assist teachers and support students, including children with disabilities.

Mamdani's case rests on the Taylor Law, the state statute requiring public employers to negotiate wages with recognized unions, The Hill reported.

"We will not allow the political process to replace the collective bargaining table," Matt Rauschenbach, a spokesperson for the mayor, said, according to The Hill.

The United Federation of Teachers, which endorsed Mamdani in July 2025, disagrees. Union President Michael Mulgrew said the Council would not have passed the bill, and the union would not have backed it, if it threatened bargaining rights, Al Jazeera reported. Paraprofessional pay starts as low as $32,000 a year.

Council Speaker Julie Menin, who has clashed repeatedly with the mayor, championed the measure and pointed to about 1,600 vacant paraprofessional positions. Council members argue the shortage feeds the roughly $1.5 billion the city spends each year settling special education claims known as Carter cases, The Hill reported.

The UFT and the New York City Central Labor Council promised "all out war" over the lawsuit, The Center Square reported.

Mamdani supported an earlier version of the measure in 2025 that would have made the payment recurring each year. The version now on the books covers a single year.

Rauschenbach said talks with the union on a permanent fix for the shortage were already underway.