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Q&A
Challenges in hiring paraprofessionals and salary issues
6:56:28
ยท
91 sec
Council Member Rita Joseph inquires about the greatest obstacle in hiring paraprofessionals. Michael Mulgrew identifies salary as the primary issue and elaborates on the complexities surrounding paraprofessional compensation.
- Mulgrew explains that the proposed $10,000 increase would only bring paraprofessionals back to their relative buying power from 20 years ago
- He criticizes the city's approach to pattern bargaining and its impact on addressing salary disparities
- Mulgrew argues for changes in bargaining rules to address the unique challenges of low-wage titles like paraprofessionals
Rita Joseph
6:56:28
What's the greatest obstacle in hiring paraprofessionals?
Michael Mulgrew
6:56:32
The salary.
6:56:33
Very simple.
6:56:34
It's their salary.
6:56:37
And and and I wanna be clear in it.
6:56:39
What what has been proposed, people like, well, it's $10,000.
6:56:42
They don't understand that's a specific number.
6:56:44
That means that a paraprofessional from twenty years ago would now, with that $10,000, would just be where they were in terms of buying power where they were twenty years ago and compared to the other titles in the Department of Education.
6:56:57
So it literally is just trying to get them back to the same place they were twenty years ago.
6:57:03
And then I I will be we have a further plan to say we need to change these rule these so called rules that you wanna that the city wants to follow on patent bargaining because patent bargaining did not start in the public sector.
6:57:18
It started in the private sector.
6:57:20
And when in our historical research of it, it had a specific provision for the this issue where if a title, because it was a low wage title, over time, if it became a problem to hire those workers, that would be taken outside of patent bargaining.
6:57:35
And I think every union in the city has become quite frustrated by that stance of the city, and their only solution is to tell all the other workers that if you wanna give this title a raise, you all have to pay for it.
6:57:49
And then but you then you still gotta get us to agree or how much will it allow you to do.
6:57:53
So I don't know anywhere else in the world what the other workers are supposed to pay for people that we can't hire because the wages aren't high enough.