In a letter to Mayor de Blasio, Sonia Ossorio, president of the National Organization for Women, followed up on his stated commitment to pay equity for women by providing specific recommendations to help him address inequality.

NOW provided the mayor with a “Priority Agenda for the Mayor to Advance the Women and Girls of New York City.” Among its priorities, NOW called for a settlement of Local 237’s class-action lawsuit, Andrews et al v. the City of New York, brought by school safety agents. The majority of the 5,000 SSAs are female, yet they earn $7,000 less annually than their male counterparts doing the same work in different city agencies.

“We are grateful that you are committed to fairly and quickly settling this lawsuit, as you noted during our Mayoral Forum last May and in your agenda for ‘Standing with the Women of New York City,”’ wrote Ossorio in the letter, dated Feb. 4. Ossorio urged the mayor to “take immediate action to fairly settle this case,” adding that the time is “ideal,” as the incoming Corporation Counsel Zachary Taylor may redirect the case “beyond the stonewalling of the prior administration.”

Citing the recent fifth-year anniversary of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the pending national Paycheck Fairness Act, and pending state-level Women’s Equality Act, Ossorio emphasized that NOW looks forward to working in partnership with the mayor’s office to improve the lives of women and girls.