AFSCME DC 47, Philly’s white-collar city workers union, has reached a tentative deal with Mayor Parker’s administration

A Philadelphia union representing thousands of white-collar municipal workers reached a tentative contract agreement with Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration early Tuesday, averting the potential of a second city workers strike this month.

Negotiations between the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 47 and the city, led by Deputy Mayor Sinceré Harris, stretched from Monday evening into Tuesday morning, ending around 5:30 a.m.

DC 47 president April Gigetts told The Inquirer that the three-year tentative deal consists of 2.5%, 3%, and 3% wage increases for the union’s members and a 1% fifth pay step in 2027. They will also receive a $1,250 bonus, Gigetts said.

The wage increases in the tentative agreement fall short of DC 47’s initial demands for 8% annual raises over four years, but Gigetts said she feels the union secured a victory in other areas of the contract that will benefit its members. That includes reforming the longevity schedule and shift differentials to give wage boosts to longtime employees and those who work second or third shifts.

Under the new longevity schedule, for example, employees who have worked five or more years would receive a 1.5% raise. After 10 years on the job, workers would receive a 1.75% raise, and a 2% raise in year 15.

Gigetts said the city also agreed to increase its percentage paid of the cost of health and welfare fund claims from 91% to 92%, and to instate a reimbursement program for workers who have been retired for five years.

“It was a tough negotiation, but I think at the end of the day, the members will be pleased,” Gigetts said.

Parker said in a statement Tuesday that, combined with the one-time 5% raise she gave DC 47 employees last year, the contract amounts to a 13.5% wage increase over her four-year term.

“We are valuing our city workers and protecting our city’s hard-earned fiscal stability at the same time,” Parker said. The city is expected to hold a news conference on the deal Wednesday.

DC 47 is an umbrella union made up of nine locals, two of which represent city workers. Union leadership was negotiating a contract for its two municipal unions — Local 2186 and 2187 — after extending contracts that expired on July 1 until July 15. The tentative agreement reached Tuesday must be ratified by members to take effect and would avert the possibility of some of the workers going on strike.

Gigetts said the union’s next steps involve telling members the details of the tentative deal and setting up dates for a town hall and the ratification vote. She said she hopes the vote will take place over the next week.

Local 2187, which represents administrative assistants and professionals, is the only local legally allowed to strike, and was taking initial steps to do so. The union held a strike authorization vote for members over the last several days, which would have given leadership the ability to call a strike if negotiations with the city reached an impasse. That vote was scheduled to be tallied Tuesday.

If members had authorized a strike and leaders had called one before a tentative agreement was reached, it would have been the second time Philadelphia city workers walked off the job this month. AFSCME DC 33 — which represents more than 9,000 blue-collar municipal employees — went on strike for eight days before reaching a tentative agreement with the city last week. Members of DC 33 began voting Monday on the ratification of that contract.

After initial frustrations at the bargaining table with the city, it appears things took a turn for the better for DC 47. Gigetts told The Inquirer on Saturday that a negotiating session last week lasted nine hours and resulted in union representatives walking away from the bargaining table — without a date to return — until they felt like they were being taken “seriously.”

But Gigetts said she felt things changed when “we were getting close to having to strike.”

“We were gearing up for some kind of collective action,” Gigetts said. “We were internally talking about what moves we needed to make to push the card a little bit, the agenda a little bit. Local 2187 was actively taking a strike vote and we were getting to that deadline. And I think that might have moved the envelope a little bit.”

“Everybody wants to get the deal done,” she said.