PHILADELPHIA — (AP) — Striking city workers waved signs at traffic circling Philadelphia City Hall and joined picket lines outside libraries, police stations and other workplaces as nearly 10,000 blue-collar workers walked off the job Tuesday in search of better pay and benefits.
District Council 33 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees announced the strike on its Facebook page early Tuesday, saying “HOLD THE LINES.”
Mayor Cherelle Parker said the city would suspend residential trash collection, close some city pools and shorten recreation center hours, but vowed to keep the city running. Police and firefighters are not on strike, but the DC33 membership includes 911 dispatchers, trash collectors, water department workers and many others.
“Like any workers in this country, I think that they have a right to expect a livable wage, and it’s really nice to see our country’s ability to still have strikes and still have public dissent,” said Nick Shuhan, a 34-year-old editor and property manager who lives in Center City. “So I stand with them.”
Parker, a pro-labor Democrat, promised that Fourth of July celebrations in the nation's birthplace would go on as usual.
“Keep your holiday plans. Don’t leave the city,” she said at a Monday afternoon news conference that followed hours of last-minute negotiations.
Parker said in a statement early Tuesday that the city had “put its best offer on the table” but District Council 33 hadn't accepted it. The city offered raises that amount to 13% over her four-year term, including last year’s 5% bump, and added a fifth step to the pay scale to align with other unionized workers, she said.
“The City of Philadelphia remains committed to reaching a fair and fiscally responsible contract with our municipal workers who are a part of DC 33,” Parker said. “We are ready, willing and able to resume negotiations with the union at their convenience.”
City officials urged residents to be patient and not hang up should they need to call either 911 or the city’s nonemergency helpline. They said they would open drop-off sites for residential trash.
District Council 33 is the largest of four major unions representing city workers. Workers picketing near City Hall on Tuesday said they could not speak to the press, and union president Greg Boulware did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Union leaders, in their initial contract proposal, asked for 8% annual raises each year of the three-year contract, along with cost-of-living hikes and bonuses of up to $5,000 for those who worked through the pandemic. The union also asked the city to pay the full cost of employee health care, or $1,700 per person per month.
“District Council 33’s members contribute as much blood, sweat and tears as does anyone else,” they said in a demand letter. “We all make the city work. Our contract must reflect that reality.”
In November, the city transit system averted a strike when the parties agreed to a one-year contract with 5% raises.
A DC33 trash strike in the summer of 1986 left the city without trash pickup for three weeks, leading trash to pile up on streets, alleyways and drop-off sites.
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