Meet Paul Egan — chiseler, cheat and United Federation of Teachers honcho Michael Mulgrew’s main man in Albany.

Egan is the union’s principal political fixer in the capital city, and he was at the center of a ruckus at an upscale restaurant there Monday night.

Egan and 25 or so colleagues commandeered a prime table; noisy feasting ensued, with Egan chowing down on prix fixe quail. But when the bill arrived, he refused to pay it.

It seems the bird wasn’t big enough for him — though he reportedly ate every bit, save for the bones and the beak.

Presently the cops were called and, with arrest imminent, Egan & Co. paid up — but only after restaurant management shaved a hunk off the top.

Now, it’s not clear whether the union bigs tipped on the pre-tantrum amount (unknown), or the post-tantrum tally ($1,500-plus).

Or even whether they tipped at all.

But thus did a boutique Albany eatery experience first-hand what a succession of mayors, governors, right-minded lawmakers and public-education reformers long ago learned: What the United Federation of Teachers does best is bully — and it makes no difference whether the stakes are billions in tax dollars or a fat-cat lobbyist’s dinner tab.

Egan claims the restaurant incident was about poor service, not tab chiseling.

But, really, how much credibility does he have?

After all, Egan himself was cited 10 years ago by then-Special Schools Investigator Edward Stancik for helping kids he allegedly was teaching at IS 133 cheat on math exams — eventually spending five months in one of the Department of Education’s notorious rubber rooms.

Then he lands in the union job — an interesting, if not instructive, career progression: For Egan, neither kids nor taxpayers ever get an even break.

And now the cops have to be called to get him to honor a restaurant tab.

Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings is a former public-school teacher and assistant principal, and his heart is plainly in the right place.

“I certainly would hope that all of our teachers and their representatives would be a better role model for our kids than these people apparently were,” he said.

“This kind of behavior, as described to the police, is unacceptable, especially coming from representatives of a teachers union.”

Alas, such behavior is precisely what is to be expected from a union that demonstrates ceaselessly that the best interests of kids, parents and taxpayers will never be allowed to come between its members and their own selfish interests.

So keep this in mind whenever the UFT claims it’s “all about the children.”

It’s always about the UFT.