Written by Mary Claire Dale
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — As almost 10,000 blue-collar workers left their jobs on Tuesday, striking city workers set up picket lines outside libraries, public offices, and other workplaces and waved banners at motorists outside Philadelphia City Hall.
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The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees’ District Council 33 declared the strike on its Facebook page early Tuesday in an effort to improve wages and benefits.
Although she pledged to keep the city functioning, Mayor Cherelle Parkers announced that the city will halt residential garbage pickup, close several civic pools, and reduce the hours of recreation centers. While firefighters and police officers are not on strike, many others, including 911 dispatchers, garbage collectors, and water department employees, are members of DC33.
When three librarians from Knoxville, Tennessee, who were in town for a convention arrived at noon on Tuesday to visit the Free Library of Philadelphia on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, they discovered that the wrought iron gates were closed and that employees were merrily demonstrating outside. They paused to talk to them and offer assistance.
Dhafir Gerald, 48, a library security guard, stated that he likes the city because it gave him a second opportunity after a lengthy incarceration. “We’re just out here trying to get fair wages, to try to get a better cost of living, because, as you know, everything in the world right now is going up,” Gerald said.
Gerald, who earns roughly $46,000 annually after six years of employment, including the first few with the sanitation department, stated that the city had the funds to pay us. The foundation of the city is us.
The Fourth of July celebrations at the birthplace of the nation would go as planned, according to pro-labor Democrat Parker.
Don’t change your vacation arrangements. After hours of last-minute negotiations, she told reporters at a press conference on Monday afternoon, “Don’t leave the city.”
The mayor stated in a statement on Tuesday that the city had made its best offer. According to her, the city added a fifth step to the wage scale to bring it in line with other city unions and offered raises totaling 13% over her four-year term, including the 5% increase from the previous year.
According to Parker, the City of Philadelphia is still dedicated to negotiating a just and cost-effective contract with our municipal employees who work for DC 33. At the union’s convenience, we are prepared, willing, and able to resume talks.
If citizens need to phone 911 or the city’s non-emergency helpline, they were advised by city authorities to be patient and not hang up. They promised to set up home trash drop-off locations.
Of the four main unions that represent city workers, District Council 33 is the biggest. A call for comment was not immediately answered by Union President Greg Boulware.
In their first contract proposal, union leaders requested cost-of-living increases, bonuses of up to $5,000 for those who persevered through the pandemic, and 8% yearly raises for each of the three-year contract. Additionally, the union requested that the city cover the whole cost of employee health insurance, which comes to $1,700 per worker per month.
When the parties agreed on a one-year contract with 5% hikes in November, the city transit system avoided a strike.
Trash piled up on sidewalks, alleyways, and drop-off locations during a three-week trash strike in the summer of 1986 that affected DC33.
“I think they have a right to expect a livable wage, like any workers in this country, and it’s really nice to see our country’s ability to still have strikes and still have public dissent,” Nick Shuhan, 34, a Center City property manager and editor, said Tuesday. I thus support them.
