Mayoral wannabes hit rival City Hall contender Kathryn Garcia for presiding over a two-tier system as Sanitation commissioner that paid women and minorities less than white male counterparts, with a leading candidate calling the situation “alarming.”
The Post exclusively reported on a federal discrimination claim filed by 13 Sanitation Enforcement Agents who say they were paid half as much as Sanitation police for doing similar work.
“That’s alarming and what a contrast,” Adams said at a Brooklyn campaign rally Wednesday.
Adams, the current Brooklyn borough president, noted that a 2018 investigation on municipal salaries by then Public Advocate Letitia James revealed that he actually paid his female staff at Borough Hall more than his male staff.
“If anyone wants to be the chief executive of the city and they are going to be in control of every agency in the city, then they can’t run it that they are pushing down women and minorities. They should be running it that they lifting up all groups so that report is alarming and disturbing for me,” Adams said.
Former Citigroup exec Ray McGuire said mayoral candidates should “lead by example,” adding that his campaign has women in senior leadership roles.
“Every significant aspect of my campaign is led by women — primarily women of color — including communications, finance, political and field operations,” McGuire told The Post.
“It is absolutely critical that the next mayor leads by example and has the proven leadership qualities to achieve true equity – in leadership opportunities, compensation, benefits and more – for women in the municipal workforce,” he added.
And civil rights lawyer Maya Wiley said as mayor she’d “confront government bureaucracy” over pay inequities and “not take no for an answer.”
“Women, all women, have been underpaid and undervalued in this city and this country and women of color in particular have a substantially lower wage too often in this city,” Wiley said while canvassing in Brooklyn.
Asked about The Post article at a Chinatown rally against anti-Asian hate crimes Wednesday, Garcia said the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claim was filed four months after she resigned from the department. However, it covers the six years she served as commissioner.
“I worked incredibly hard to make it so that we had a diverse workforce at the Department of Sanitation and saw change happening,” Garcia said, adding, “We have more to do not only at Sanitation but all of the unformed forces to make sure we’re living up to our values of having a more diverse workforce in New York City.”
A spokesman for entrepreneur Andrew Yang declined to comment. Yang, Adams and Garcia are the three frontrunners in the crowded mayoral field for the June 22 primary election.
Reps for the other candidates — City Comptroller Scott Stringer, nonprofit leader Dianne Morales and former Obama housing secretary Shaun Donovan — did not respond to requests for comment.
Additional reporting by Lorena Mongelli