District Council 33 votes to ratify new contract with City of Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA - District Council 33 membership on Monday ratified the tentative agreement the union reached with the city that ended a crippling strike in Philadelphia.

The three-year deal was reached on July 9 and ended a week-long work stoppage in Philadelphia that caused mounds of trash to pile up on city streets and sidewalks.

The tentative agreement includes a 14% wage increase for union members, and a one-year contract extension to a deal the union agreed to last fall.

What's New?:

Union members voted in favor of the tentative agreement reached between the union and the city that ended the strike over a week ago.

Over 2,300 votes were cast by union members over the last week, with 1,535 voting yes and 838 voting no. 

"The results have been certified by the American Arbitration Association, and we've informed the City to start issuing bonuses," President Greg Boulware said.

"Together, we made this happen."

The backstory:

District Council 33 members took to the picket lines on July 1 after a midnight deadline to find a new contract came and went without a deal.

The strike came hours after Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker rolled out a contingency plan in the event District Council members walked off the job. 

With sanitation workers on strike, Parker said there would be no trash pick-up and Philly residents would have to haul their garbage to a dedicated dumping site.

This caused mounds of trash to pour out of dumpsters and overwhelm sidewalks, as the city struggled to make up for the absence of its sanitation department.

The strike also meant service disruptions to Philadelphia's water department for things like water main breaks and street cave-ins.

In the heat of summer, over a dozen Philadelphia pools were forced to close, and recreation centers needed to cut hours.

During the strike, the city filed an injunction against illegal picketing, accusing some union members of harassing city employees and blocking entries to dumping sites, health care facilities, and rec centers.

"We couldn't get our doctors into the health centers today," Philadelphia Solicitor Director Renee Garcia said. "They were slashing tires on trucks, preventing traffic, trash drop-offs. "We have residents going to drop off their trash, and they're getting harassed on their way."

This was the third legal action the city placed on the union. The first was a pair of injunctions that forced 72 Water Department employees and over 200 911 dispatchers back to work. 

"I would like to see this come to a halt yesterday," District Council 33 President Greg Boulware said. "We could have met yesterday, but the City had us in court all day filing injunctions." 

Mayor Cherelle Parker tried to entice union members with an offer that included a 12% wage increase, which she said is the largest given out by a Philadelphia mayor in their first term over the last 30 years.

"For an average District Council 33 worker, that means an average annual pay increase of $2,383," Parker said in a video posted to Facebook last weekend.

That wasn't enough to pull union members from the picket lines, and the strike as both sides would not budge on their concessions. 

After a weeklong standstill and rounds of contract negotiations, the City of Philadelphia and District Council 33 reached a tentative agreement on a new contract that raises union wages by 14% over Parker's four years in office.

The other side:

District Council 33 President Greg Boulware shared his displeasure about the contract agreement with reporters while leaving negotiations after a deal was reached.

"A deal has been reached, unfortunately," Boulware said. "The City of Philadelphia has to do better by its members, has to put the members and the workers who handle all the essential functions as a priority in the city, I don't feel like that's been done."

Boulware said there were "a lot of factors involved" that lead District Council 33 to accept the city's offer that they felt was in the best interest of its members.

"Your union stood up and fought for you and we did the best we could with the circumstances we had in front of us," Boulware said.

Dig deeper:

Before a deal was reached, Parker claimed the 12% wage increase being offered by the city was the largest raise a mayor in their first term has extended in the last 30 years.  

Ed Rendell increased District Council 33 wages by 5% in his first term as mayor. John Street dolled out a 9% increase during his first four years in office. Michael Nutter didn't raise wages at all in his first term. And former mayor Jim Kenney gave out a 11.5% raise to District Council 33 members in his first term.

"That increase of more than 12%, it will represent the largest one-term pay increase for District Council 33 from any mayor in more than 3 decades," Parker said.

In her first year alone, Parker said the city and the union agreed to a 5% pay increase – the largest one-year wage bump that the union has seen in three decades. 

"For an average District Council 33 worker, that meant an average annual pay increase of $2,383," Parker said. "If the workforce of District Council 33 accepts the proposal that we have already put on the table for them, their pay increase will total over 12%."

The two sides ended up agreeing to a three-year contract with a 14% raise over Parker's four years in office, and a 1-year contract extension to the deal they agreed to last year.

PhiladelphiaNews