Philly strike ends: Trash collection to resume next week; some DC 33 members not thrilled; Parker outlines details, cost of new contract

Sorry, rats. The “Parker piles” are about to disappear.

Philadelphia’s first major city workers strike since 1986 lasted eight days and four hours before Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and Greg Boulware, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 33, reached a deal for a new contract about 4 a.m. Wednesday.

That meant the union’s roughly 9,000 members — blue-collar city employees such as trash collectors, street pavers, 911 dispatchers, and other frontline workers — would return to work immediately. Residential trash collection will resume Monday.

As some of the city's temporary trash sites prepare to well... be thrown away, so to speak, residents may be wondering what cleaning plans are in place for these areas — some of which were subjected to pile ups of trash.

A spokesperson for the Department of Sanitation confirmed to The Inquirer Wednesday that these locations will be power-washed and sanitized once the trash and containers have been removed.

The cleaning will be carried out by workers from the city's Community Life Improvement Program, which consists of services that focus on maintaining the appearance of neighborhoods, the spokesperson said.

Several more members of Philadelphia City Council who supported DC 33's strike have weighed in on the end of the job action.

Councilmember Rue Landau said in a statement to The Inquirer Wednesday that "this past week was a reminder to all of us that our city workers and our unions are indeed essential and deserve a fair contract."

"DC33 leadership played a key role in bringing everyone to the table, and now it's up to its members to decide if this deal meets their needs," Landau added. Members of the union will need to ratify the contract.

An important but often overlooked part of the contract agreement negotiated by Mayor Cherelle Parker and AFSCME District Council 33 president Greg Boulware is the addition of a fifth step in the union's pay scale.

The first-year salaries for newly hired city employees in the union are prescribed by the contract, with starting points varying depending on job title. Previously, an employee represented by DC 33 got a 2% bump after each of their first four years with the city, in addition to any across-the-board raises negotiated between the union and the administration.

The pay scales for workers in other unions have long had more than four steps in their pay scales. Before the strike began, Parker proposed creating a fifth step for DC 33 to level the playing field with other city workers and to give veteran employees a raise. Now, DC 33 members will get an additional 2% in their fifth year of service.

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker appeared to take a victory lap Wednesday after her administration struck a tentative contract agreement with District Council 33 leaders overnight.

Parker spent close to 10 minutes dishing out an emotional appreciation of several members of her administration who were key to the city’s operations throughout the work stoppage.

Then, she appeared to extend something of an olive branch to DC 33 workers as the intense days of the strike come to a close.

Philadelphia will resume regular trash collection on Monday, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said during a news conference at City Hall Wednesday.

Until then, the city is directing residents to either hold onto their trash or take it to one of the six sanitation centers located throughout the city. The centers will be open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. this week and return to their regular schedule beginning Saturday.

The 60 temporary drop-off sites set up across the city will be removed.

Cindi Banner handed over a single bag of trash to back-at-work sanitation department worker Robert Wesley at the drop off site at 18th Street and Fitzwater Street Wednesday morning.

Banner said she was “holding out" because sanitation workers deserve to be paid more, but bad scents forced her hand.

"And then I started getting fruit flies, and my kitty litter started to smell," Banner said. "I heard it’s over, but I still don’t want it in my apartment, because who knows when it’s going to get picked up?"

The city worker strike in Philadelphia — the first major city strike since 1986 — is over and the union employees are returning to work.

That’s about 9,000 trash collectors, 911 dispatchers, street pavers, library employees, and more resuming operations on Wednesday. So, does that mean you can return your library books? Or, perhaps the most pressing question being asked in Philly today: When will trash be picked up again?

Here’s what we know — and don’t know — so far.

Sam Spear, the lead attorney for AFSCME District Council 33, said union president Greg 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.

“He’s very disappointed, but it’s a strike dynamic. You strike to try to get your maximum effectiveness,” Spear said in an interview. “The point of the strike is to create enough discomfort to get them to meet as many of the demands as we can get them to meet, but at some point, then the threat of the injunction kicks in.”

Philadelphia’s last major municipal strike in 1986 ended shortly after a judge ruled that sanitation employees had to return to work to prevent a public health crisis due to the build-up of trash. The maximum point of leverage, he said, is likely well before that point.

Philadelphia City Council President Kenyatta Johnson is commending Mayor Cherelle L. Parker administration's and DC 33 for reaching their tentative agreement.

"Strikes are never easy for neither our workforce nor City operations, and certainly not for the 1.5 million Philadelphia residents who depend on the services DC 33 provides each day," Johnson said in a statement Wednesday.

Johnson said DC 33's work is "truly invaluable, admirable, and essential to the health and wellness of all Philadelphians" and acknowledges the "strain" the work stoppage had on Philadelphians.

DC 33's new deal is for a three-year contract with 3% raises each year — close to Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s demands throughout negotiations and far below the 5% annual increases union president Greg Boulware went on strike for.

The contract also includes the creation of a fifth step in the union pay scale, which will likely boost wages by approximately 2% for veteran DC 33 members.

The deal applies retroactively to July 1. Parker said her previous offer for a similar deal would cost the city $115 million over three years. The final version will likely come in slightly above that total.

Sorry, rats. The “Parker piles” are about to disappear.

Philadelphia’s first major city worker strike since 1986 lasted eight days and four hours before Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and Greg Boulware, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 33, reached a deal for a new contract at about 4 a.m. Wednesday morning.

That means the union’s roughly 9,000 members — blue collar city employees such as trash collectors, street pavers, 911 dispatchers, and other front line workers — will return to work immediately.

Franklinville resident Maria Garay had no idea how her groceries were going to fit in her fridge that was increasingly full of garbage.

Before Philadelphia’s municipal sanitation workers came to a deal with Mayor Cherelle L. Parker in the wee hours of Wednesday morning in their second week on strike, the 47-year-old was putting her food scraps in the freezer. She doesn’t have a caged, wrought-iron porch like some of her neighbors, which is where some started to pile their trash, or a car. But Garay refused to let food fester in the humidity and heat.

Even if she wanted to, she could not afford to pay someone to take her trash to the closest temporary dump site, more than half a mile away, so she neatly lined up her trash in the far corner of the abandoned lot next to her home.

DC 33's strike was much short than their infamous work stoppage in July 1986, which lasted nearly three weeks.

Like this year's strike, that work stoppage kicked off July 1, and quickly resulted in mountains of trash piling up on city streets. After about 20 days, it resulted in roughly 45,000 tons of “stinking, maggot-laced garbage” sitting at neighborhood disposal sites, the Daily News and the New York Times reported nearly 40 years ago.

That buildup continued for weeks, until July 19, 1986, when trash collectors returned to work and began clearing tons of refuse at trash-transfer sites around the city. Since then, there has not been a major DC 33 work stoppage — until this week.