District Council 33 to create strike fund, seeking food and water donations
District Council 33 members picket in Philly as negotiations with the city continue
District Council 33 members continued to picket in Philadelphia Sunday as they set up outside a Port Richmond sanitation center on Delaware Avenue and the Water Department on Castor Avenue.
PHILADELPHIA - District Council 33, Philadelphia's largest workers' union, is on strike as it negotiates with the City of Philadelphia.
What we know:
It’s been almost a week and there’s still no deal between the city and District Council 33.
Employees continued to picket in the city Sunday, as they set up outside a Port Richmond sanitation center on Delaware Avenue and the Water Department on Castor Avenue.
The city pool in Fishtown, as well as Cruz Pool near 6th and Master Streets, remained closed Sunday through another 90-degree day, with DC33 still on strike.
In a post on social media Sunday, DC 33 expressed gratitude toward the public's support and its members for their solidarity.
For those looking to give food, water and other non-monetary donations, DC 33 says you can drop off goods at the union hall during business hours.
The union is in the process of creating a strike fund for people to give monetary donations as well.
The backstory:
The DC 33 union encompasses more than 9,000 Philadelphia City workers.
These hard workers include sanitation employees, crossing guards, rec center employees, library workers, 911 dispatch operators and more.
As pressure mounted to get a deal done before the July 4th holiday, District Council 33 members stood firm on their demands for better wages and pensions.
Mayor Cherelle Parker touted the city's latest contract offer at the end of June, but, as of 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, they were unable to reach an agreement.
The mayor said the previous offer would have given District Council 33 the largest pay raise that a Philly mayor has ever extended in their first term in over 30 years.
Dig deeper:
"I think for the most part you want to see people get their fair share, their fair wage it’s easy for politicians to politic," said TJ Maiorino. "This is a real thing affecting people it’s not just people in city hall acting a certain way, or social media, it’s real services that people can’t use in the middle of the summer here, so it sucks, that’s kind of the overall sentiment."
The Fourth of July holiday came and went, with Welcome America headliners opting out of performing due to the strike, but when negotiations continued Saturday—still no deal.
"We were at the splash pad, which luckily is still open, but we’d normally be across the street at the pool, the community pool is where we see all of our neighbors and friends and we’re teaching our kid how to swim," said Jill Ozovek of Fishtown. "These essential workers are really important to us, so really just hoping the city can make a deal with DC33 and pay them a living wage."
Trash concern
DC 33 Strike Day 6: Trash pile-up update
It is day six of the District Council 33 strike and the tensions and the frustrations, keep rising along with the trash, and even though the trash is getting hauled away to the city dump.
Neighbors FOX 29 spoke with say they are avoiding dropping off trash at one of the 60 designated drop-off spots, but say the trash hoarding can only go on for so long.
"Our trash is piling up and we will not cross a picket line so we’re probably going to bring our trash to Washington Crossing to my mom’s house," said Ozovek. "In the car, up 95, with some smelly garbage."
"My wife told me enough is Enough my trash is building up and she was like you got to do something about it!" said Bobby Jenkins, Oxford Circle.
"I believe in what they’re fighting for you know they’re always out here in the heat cold snow whatever but I also remember the mayor saying we’re not Filth-adelphia but look what it looks like right now and it smells like it as well!" said Lakesha Dawson-Smith, Oxford Circle.