Sleeping on cots, 24/7 shifts, and double time: How Philly is keeping water clean during the DC 33 strike
As the strike carries into a second week, the city has relied on managers to fill essential jobs at Philadelphia's water facilities, paying them more handsomely than their DC 33 counterparts.
More than 100 Philadelphia Water Department supervisors have been working 24/7 shifts at the city’s six water and wastewater treatment facilities since last Tuesday, as the union representing many staffers who manage the city’s drinking water supply remains on strike.
For the last week, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker has been at loggerheads with District Council 33 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees as she pushes for a “fiscally responsible” contract with the lowest-paid municipal workers’ union.
But as the picket lines carry into a second week, the Parker administration has relied on higher-paid managers to fill essential jobs at the city’s water facilities, paying them more handsomely than their DC 33 counterparts.
PWD managers received training to take over the city’s treatment and wastewater plants in the event of a disaster situation — or, in this case, the first major work stoppage in nearly four decades.
Now, supervisors are pulling the round-the-clock shifts, including up to 16 hours a day of overtime, plus double time on weekends and holidays, according to city records and two water department supervisors with knowledge of the situation, one of whom is stationed at a pump house.
The supervisors are sleeping on cots at the pumping stations and relying on city-funded food deliveries as part of the emergency arrangement. They were summoned to the plants to fill the roles of some 360 water department employees represented by District 33 who walked off the job at the expiration of their contract on July 1, at 12:01 a.m.
“Sunday is 48 hours [of pay],” said the supervisor sleeping on a cot at a pump house, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the press. “If they’re locking us in here, it’s the appropriate thing to do. The water has to keep flowing.”
The city declined to answer specific questions for this story or confirm the details of its compensation package for supervisors. Deputy Managing Director Mike Carroll confirmed the city trained non-DC 33 staff in advance of the strike to keep clean water flowing during emergencies.
“Staff are now housed at these facilities 24-hours a day and are assigned to work 12-hour shifts,” Carroll said. “Furthermore, the department has been monitoring sites to ensure that chemical deliveries and other services continue.”
The employee stationed at the facility said supervisors are receiving eight hours of standard pay for their shift and are paid time and a half for the remaining 16 hours of the day, including sleeping and downtime.
Supervisor-level employees at PWD plants typically earn salaries ranging from $96,000 to $116,000 annually, according to city payroll records. That is compared to the $46,000 average salary earned by a worker with DC 33.
“They’ve got people making less than $46,000 a year with overtime,” the PWD employee at the pump house said. “Paying someone that, and then paying us $2,000 a day? It’s ridiculous.”
Minutes after contract negotiations deadline passed last week, City Solicitor Renee Garcia personally served an injunction to DC 33 leader Greg Boulware, demanding pump station staff and other select other city workers cross the picket line and return to work as a public health precaution. Judge Sierra Thomas-Street granted the order later that day.
The city declined to elaborate on why it was necessary to recall managers, given the court order forcing striking workers back to these facilities. However, the two Water Department employees who spoke with The Inquirer said that some DC 33 employees had called out of work in the wake of the injunction.
The city planned for this scenario in advance. On June 13, the city sought and received approval from its personnel board “to provide cash compensation” to other employees to relieve a “staff shortage” at pumping stations.
Leadership at DC 33 remains deadlocked with Parker’s administration over pay raises. Parker’s last known offer included annual raises of 2.75%, 3%, and 3% — a combined 8.75%. Parker described the offer as “historic” when combined with the 5% raises she gave the union on a one-year deal in 2024. However, union leadership has so far insisted on annual raises of about 5%.
In 1986, during the last major municipal strike, 200 managers were similarly called up to staff water pumps around the clock, even holding July Fourth barbecues and playing badminton on water station grounds to pass the time. That strike lasted three weeks.
While they’d been preparing for the current strike, most PWD supervisors thought the temporary fill-in work would last a few days, according to the PWD manager. A week later, there’s no end in sight for negotiations — or PWD staff who are sleeping over at municipal treatment facilities.
“There are morale issues,” said the PWD employee. “People wanna see their families.”
Negotiations between DC33 and the city are expected to resume Tuesday.