'Several' sticking points slow negotiations; national AFSCME president encourages striking Philly workers; city officials warn against illegal dumping

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker made no public appearances Monday, as the city’s largest municipal union hauled its first strike in nearly 40 years into its seventh straight day. But its members had a message for the mayor — and the residents of Philadelphia.

“If you can’t stand the smell, blame it on Cherelle,” members of District Council 33 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees chanted while awaiting the arrival of AFSCME national president Lee Saunders at a Port Richmond sanitation convenience center where, days before, a reckless driver hit two DC 33 workers on the picket line.

Across town in South Philadelphia, city officials gathered for a news conference that included, among other things, a tour of a temporary drop-off site at 15th and Bigler Streets. Parker was not present, but Carlton Williams, director of the city’s Clean & Green Initiatives, encouraged residents to utilize the site and those like it responsibly to avoid accumulating the mounds of trash that complicate an already messy situation. Those mounds, as negotiations have hit an impasse in recent days, have come to be known as “Parker Piles.”

Philadelphia's satellite election offices are closed for the duration of the strike as the majority of the city's election workers are members of DC 33.

Coming in a generally slow time for election officials, and in a typically low turnout year, the strikes' impacts to election operations in Philadelphia will be relatively minor.

The strike has, for now, stopped processing of voter registration applications and the city's supplemental poll worker trainings, said City Commissioner Seth Bluestein.

No doubt some bags of Philly trash showed up at Shore houses this weekend, but authorities in Cape May and Atlantic County said they didn't notice any bigger bump than usual over Fourth of July weekend.

"There's always a bump in the amount of trash following a beautiful holiday weekend, so it's hard to quantify," said Amy Cook-Menzel of Atlantic County's Utilities Authority, which collects trash and recyclables in the Shore towns of Brigantine, Atlantic City, Ventnor, Margate, and Longport.

She said county officials would keep an eye out.

Three people were arrested after delivering trash from a local playground to the west side of City Hall.

Carrying two blue wagons packed with five trash bags from Piccoli Playground, eight activists from Sunrise Movement, a climate justice group, walked into City Hall right before 10 a.m. One person put a black bag labeled “special delivery for Mayor Parker” on the security desk.

“We did this to stand in solidarity with DC33 and show Mayor Parker that this trash doesn’t need to be at playgrounds and it doesn’t need to be in our communities,” said Wanya Allen, the movement’s action lead.

Tensions remain high between AFSCME District Council 33 and the City of Philadelphia, union president Greg Boulware said Monday.

“Some of the conduct has been deplorable as far as I’m concerned,” Boulware said during a news conference, one where he had few updates on the ongoing negotiating process between the striking union and city officials.

“It’s hard to have a conversation when someone wants to drop a piece of paper in front of you, then walk out of the room for four hours at a time,” said Boulware, adding that DC 33 was “in the process” of filing an unfair labor practice complaint against the city.

Carlton Williams, director of the city's Clean & Green Initiatives, who fielded questions from reporters by a city trash collection site in South Philadelphia Monday, saying there were "several" sticking points in the contract negotiations.

"I don't know all in detail, and I can't provide that information right now, but there's a number of issues that both sides want to get resolved," Williams said.

Meanwhile across town in Port Richmond, the District 33 union held its own separate news conference. At the union conference, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees national president Lee Saunders said he couldn't say when the strike would end, emphasizing that workers were striving to make "a decent living with good benefits and good pay."

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees national president Lee Saunders has arrived at the AFSCME District Council 33 press conference in Port Richmond at the site where two striking workers were struck by a vehicle last week.

“All of you are a part of that big family,” Saunders said to a crowd of striking workers who held signs and bellowed chants like “If you can’t stand the smell, blame it on Cherelle.” The union has more than 1 million members nationwide.

“You’re trying to make a decent living with good benefits and good pay, while you are providing essential services to the citizens of Philadelphia,” Saunders said. “You are the everyday heroes, and everyday heroes must be treated with respect and dignity — and that means money.”

Carlton Williams, director of the city's Clean & Green Initiatives, reiterated the city's operations for the trash drop-off sites and stated that dumpsters overflowing at certain locations remain an issue.

"Do not place trash outside of these dumpsters," Williams said. "It causes a condition and slows us down in the collection process."

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker was not present at Monday's news conference and walkthrough of a trash collection site at 15th and Bigler.

The DC 33 worker strike is now in its seventh day, and it doesn't appear the work stoppage is ending anytime soon.

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s last publicly known contract offer was for a three-year deal with annual raises of 2.75%, 3%, and 3%, or a combined 8.75%.

But in her messaging, Parker has referred to her offer as a “historic” 13% by combining those raises with the 5% DC 33 members got in a one-year deal for 2024, the first year of her administration.

For Philadelphians, the ongoing city worker strike has become an attack on all five senses, especially smell. But for people outside the region, news of the strike is seemingly everywhere and nowhere.

On the one hand, Philly’s first municipal strike in the social media era has been amplified by influencers on TikTok and Instagram, and union members have broadcast their stories to viewers across the country. Young influencers in particular have focused on the plight of the striking city employees, with some trumpeting the work stoppage as the potential dawn of a new era in politics.

On the other hand, consumers of traditional media outlets with national audiences might not even know it’s happening. Unlike the city’s last municipal strike in 1986, which saw numerous stories from the New York Times and others, there has been scant national coverage of this year’s ordeal outside of the Associated Press.

As the DC 33 worker strike grinds on, residents are being asked to bring their garbage to one of 60 drop-off sites the city had set up across the city. There are also six sanitation convenience centers, which will be open daily from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m.

The city says residents can bring up to eight bags of trash on their given collection day to a drop-off site, which will be open Monday through Saturday from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m.

As for overflowing dumpsters and bags of trash littering sidewalks, Crystal Jacobs Shipman, the commissioner of the Department of Sanitation, said vendors were attempting to replace full containers with empty ones multiple times per day, but are running into issues causing delays.