De Blasio leads ‘USA, equal pay’ chant at World Cup parade

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) led a chant of “USA, equal pay” at a Wednesday ticker tape parade celebrating the U.S. women’s soccer team.

“This team has shown an undeniable truth, an inalienable right, the equality of women must be guaranteed in this nation,” de Blasio, a 2020 presidential candidate, said at the parade.  

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio leads chant of “USA! Equal pay!” in speech honoring U.S. women’s national soccer team’s World Cup win. https://t.co/j1h0yXktcK #USWNTParade pic.twitter.com/00nKYd33iq

— ABC News (@ABC) July 10, 2019

Other parade attendees, including New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), were also seen chanting in favor of equal pay. 

The issue of equal pay has received renewed attention following the team’s victory in the World Cup final over the weekend.{mosads}

The team’s 28 players sued U.S. Soccer earlier this year, accusing the organization of “institutionalized gender discrimination” including inequity in pay, practice time, practice locations, medical treatment, coaching and travel. The two sides reportedly reached a tentative agreement last month. 

De Blasio’s presidential campaign on Wednesday also announced his plan to amend legislation guaranteeing pay and resource equity for certain national sports teams, including the U.S. Soccer Federation. His campaign said he would encourage Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, which aims to increase protections against wage discrimination.

Unions for New York City’s emergency medical services workers released a statement Wednesday criticizing the mayor’s focus on pay inequity in sports rather than alleged pay inequity among the local forces’ ranks. 

“While Mayor de Blasio uses this victory parade to grab attention for his presidential run and advocate against pay inequality, the first responders of FDNY EMS are victims of that same inequity,” the unions said in a statement.

“The difference in salaries after five years is tens of thousands of dollars. The women’s national team deserves equal pay, but so do the hardworking EMTs and paramedics who save lives routinely and who the mayor has ignored.”