'The strike is over, and nobody’s happy’ – Philadelphia municipal workers agree to deal with the city

The first city worker strike to hit Philadelphia since 1986 is ending. 

More than a week after the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 33 workers walked off the job, union leaders and Mayor Cherelle Parker’s administration have reached a tentative agreement, with services set to resume, including regular trash pickup beginning on Monday. 

The new union contract, a three-year contract with 3% raises each year, is short of what union leaders were hoping, but after a 12-hour negotiation session Tuesday, District Council 33 President Greg Boulware said they did what they had to do. 

The union’s roughly 9,000 members –  city employees including trash collectors, street pavers, 911 dispatchers, and other front line workers – will return to work immediately.

“There’s a lot of factors involved in what was going on – we ultimately did what we thought was in the best interest of all of our membership,” Boulware said.

And Sam Spear, the lead attorney for District Council 33, said Boulware ended the strike because the laws for public sector employees make it difficult to carry out extended work stoppages before being ordered back to work by the courts.

“The strike is over, and nobody’s happy,” Boulware said as he exited negotiations. “We felt our clock was running out.”

Trash piles in the streets, the most tangible sign of the work stoppage, have been a nuisance for residents, workers and officials alike. 

And while the deal appears to be a complete win for the city, the last week – one full of garbage and illegal dumping overwhelming the temporary trash drop-off sites – was a frustrating time for Philadelphians across the board, and one of the biggest political challenges for the Parker administration. 

“I have good news tonight for the hardworking men and women of AFSCME District Council 33, and for every taxpaying business and resident in Philadelphia,” Parker, who referred to the deal as “historic,” said in a statement. 

Wednesday morning, Parker and members of her administration detailed the tentative agreement, with the mayor emphasizing that the new contract, which totals 14% in pay raises over four years plus a one-time $1,500 bonus and a 2% fifth-step increase for long-term employees – is the largest increase in over 30 years during a mayoral term.

Carlton Williams, director of Clean and Green Initiatives, said all temporary trash drop-off sites will close immediately and the city’s six collection centers will open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. until Monday, when regular trash and recycling collection will resume. 

The 5% increase the city agreed to last year, on top of the annual 3% increases, bring the union’s compensation increase over Parker’s four-year term to about 14% – well below the 32% total pay package the union was fighting for. 

Parker, who made a point of singling out the key players involved in both negotiations and keeping strike-impacted operations running, emphasized that while there is a tentative agreement waiting to be approved by union membership, it will still be some time before things get back to normal.

"I want to say to our residents, please give us a moment of grace as our hard-working employees and members of District Council 33  return to their jobs. We'll get every city service that they provide staffed up and running just as soon as it is humanly possible – our swimming pools and our rec centers, our libraries and every vital service that we continued to provide during the strike, like water treatment, like the police dispatching the airport dispatching, too. We take these jobs very seriously, because our job is to serve you, the people of Philadelphia.”