Contracts for Philly’s four largest city unions are about to expire, and one is threatening to strike. Here’s what you need to know.

Almost all of Philadelphia’s 22,000 unionized city employees may be working on expired contracts beginning July 1 as Mayor Cherelle L. Parker seeks to reach long-term deals and the union representing sanitation workers and other frontline employees threatens to go on strike.

Philadelphia mayors traditionally negotiate multiyear contracts with the city’s four largest municipal unions during the first six months of their administrations.

Parker is seeking to change that. After taking office last year, she pushed the unions to take one-year extensions that included raises of around 4% to 5%, but otherwise left unchanged the terms negotiated by her predecessor, former Mayor Jim Kenney.

Those deals expire July 1, and Parker’s administration is in the midst of hashing out what she hopes will be four-year deals that will last deep into her next term, assuming she runs for and wins reelection. The mayor has set aside $550 million for the city to pay for new multiyear deals.

“Our municipal employees are our most important asset,” Parker spokesperson Joe Grace said. “The city is conducting negotiations with its municipal unions, with the goal of reaching fair and fiscally responsible contracts. Those talks are ongoing.”

It is common for negotiations to extend beyond the expiration of the previous contracts. (Deals signed after a gap usually include retroactive payment to city workers for raises they would have been collecting in the meantime.)

It is also common for unions to threaten strikes during bargaining, as District Council 33 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees did last week. But union president Greg Boulware said last week it’s no empty threat.

“Should we not have a contract in place or a tentative contract in place [on July 1], it is our intention to go on strike,” Boulware said Wednesday. “The city of Philadelphia has balanced their budgets and their books on the backs of our members for years.”

» READ MORE: Philly’s largest municipal union says it will ‘shut this city down’ if a contract deal isn’t reached soon

Here’s what you need to know about Parker’s negotiations with city unions.

Most of Philadelphia’s unionized city employees are represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. White-collar workers, such as supervisors and doctors, are part of AFSCME’s District Council 47. Many workers performing manual labor and skilled trades, such as street pavers, are in District Council 33.

DC 33 is the largest and lowest-paid of the city’s collective bargaining units, and it is the only union of the big four where a majority of the workers are Black. The union has played a key role in the city’s politics, including during the adoption of the Home Rule Charter in the 1950s. DC 33’s internal politics are also intense, and the union has been in a back-and-forth factional power struggle since the 1990s.

About 95% of DC 33 members voted to authorize its leadership to call a strike as soon as July, Boulware said.

The AFSCME unions negotiate directly with the mayor’s administration, and their collective bargaining process resembles that of private sector unions.

That’s not the case for the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 and the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 22, which represent “uniformed” or “sworn” employees.

Under state law, police officers, firefighters, and other public safety workers are prohibited from going on strike, which weakens their bargaining position. In exchange, the law spells out a special process for determining their contracts known as interest arbitration, in which a three-person panel hears out both sides and issues a contract, known as an arbitration award, to which the city and union are bound.

One member of the panel is chosen by the city, a second by the union, and the third is appointed by the American Arbitration Association.

This process is the reason it is often difficult for mayors to enact reforms to the police disciplinary process, which is spelled out in the contract. The only way the city can overturn or reject an arbitration award is to sue to stop its implementation — a move that is unlikely to be successful unless the city can prove it cannot afford to pay for it.

The FOP has already begun arbitration hearings, according to Mike Bresnan, president of the firefighters’ union. That means the police union could be the first to reach a new multiyear contract under Parker.

The FOP did not respond to a request for comment.

The firefighters have arbitration hearings scheduled for the fall, Bresnan said.

“We just asked for a fair reasonable wage increase, as high as we can get,” Bresnan said.

The next city budget will be $6.8 billion, and tax revenue continues to outpace expectations. It’s unlikely either public safety union’s arbitration award will cause problems for the mayor’s financial plans.

So far, Parker’s relationships with the AFSCME councils have proven to be trickier.

DC 47 sued the city last year in an unsuccessful attempt to block Parker’s policy requiring all city employees to return to in-office work five days a week. And DC 33 was the only union to try to resist Parker’s request for a one-year contract last spring, with Boulware threatening a strike before eventually approving the extension in November.

» READ MORE: Mayor Cherelle Parker reached a one-year deal with the city’s biggest union, averting a strike

DC 47 leaders did not respond to requests for comment.

In the past, DC 33 has reached contracts before DC 47, which has generally followed the larger union’s lead. It’s not clear if that will be the case if Boulware again tussles with the administration for months.

Boulware seems once again to be taking an aggressive approach to negotiations, noting that his DC 33 members make far less than other city workers and contending that many struggle to afford to live in Philadelphia — a particular sore spot because AFSCME members, unlike cops and firefighters, are required to live in the city. (Through arbitration awards about 15 years ago, FOP and IAFF members won the right to move out of Philadelphia after five years of service.)

“It’s been increasingly difficult for our members to find affordable housing inside the city of Philadelphia,” he said.

The city has offered 2% annual raises, and Boulware is seeking 8% per year.

“We recognize that that’s lofty and that’s why it’s negotiations,” Boulware said. “We should be able to come to a happy medium.”

He’s also seeking a return to a fully defined-benefit pension plan for all his members and for the city to relax the residency rule.

The mayor is likely to oppose any softening of the residency rule or a return to previous pension plans.

As a City Council member, Parker championed a measure that tightened residency rules in hiring, and she often invoked the transformational potential of city jobs as part of her vision for boosting Philadelphia’s middle class.

Parker’s view is that instead of letting more city workers move out, the city should make it easier for them to flourish in Philly. She has included affordable housing programs aimed at public servants in her new Housing Opportunities Made Easy, or H.O.M.E., initiative.

And as a state representative, Parker helped pass legislation in Harrisburg that has been credited with bolstering Philadelphia’s depleted pension system, which is now on pace to be fully funded by 2039. Another key part of that turnaround: the hybrid pension plans and increased employee contributions that were negotiated in labor contracts under previous mayors, including Michael A. Nutter during a yearslong standoff with three city unions.

Parker has been an ally of organized labor throughout her career as a legislator, and construction and service industry unions were key to her victory in the 2023 mayor’s race. But as the city’s top executive, she must now balance the city’s books.

“Multiple times, the mayor has mentioned how labor-friendly she is,” Boulware said. “Quite honestly, that’s meant little to nothing because we’ve been in the same place we were six months ago.”

Bresnan said Parker’s legacy as a pro-labor leader is on the line in the current negotiations.

“I think it’s to be determined,” he said. “Nobody’s got a contract.”

Staff writer Fallon Roth contributed to this article.