The New York Metropolis lecturers’ union endorsed Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani for mayor Tuesday evening — regardless of his radical platform to cede Metropolis Corridor’s authority to supervise the nation’s largest public faculty system.
The United Federation of Lecturers’ decision recommending Mamdani’s endorsement applauded his pledge of “revamping mayoral control [of schools] to give more say to educators and parents.”
Mamdani’s training platform “supports an end to mayoral control” in favor of “co-governance.”
A state legislation accredited beneath then-Mayor Mike Bloomberg in 2002 gave Metropolis Corridor authority to supervise the faculties system to switch the dysfunctional, much-maligned Board of Schooling.
Successive mayors Invoice de Blasio and Eric Adams have fought to maintain Metropolis Corridor answerable for the faculties.
The Publish first reported final week that the UFT would endorse Mamdani after he gained a crowded June Democratic major by a dominant margin. The union was impartial within the major.
“As a union, we have to protect public education, public employees, and public service from attacks from Washington, DC,” UFT president Mike Mulgrew mentioned following the vote.
“We have to make New York City safer and more affordable for working- and middle-class families,” he went on. “We have to make the jobs of educators and nurses more attractive with better pay and benefits, and retain those already doing the work. We need a mayor who understands the task before us and who will help us get it done.”
The decision additionally mentioned Mamdani dedicated to full implementation of the class-size discount legislation and funding for pre-Ok and 3-Ok packages.
Whereas the decision handed with 63% of the vote, some lecturers staunchly opposed backing Mamdani — amongst them Jewish educators who took challenge with Mamdani’s anti-Israel stance. Lots of them not too long ago backed Mulgrew’s re-election as union president.
“We understand that Mamdani’s campaign promises are attractive to the UFT, but many feel let down with this selection,” mentioned Moshe Spern, president of the United Jewish Lecturers.
“Mulgrew was supported by many Jewish educators because of Ant-Zionist candidates against him. Now he’s chosen to support an Anti-Zionist mayoral candidate,” Spern mentioned. “The UFT has made it very clear that getting on Mamdani’s good side is more important than supporting those that supported him.”
