Philadelphia strike: Parker says District Council 33 refused city's offer to continue negotiations

PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said District Council 33 refused the city's offer to continue contract negotiations on Thursday as a crippling work stoppage continues.

"The City of Philadelphia can not negotiate with itself," Parker said during a press conference outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Parker continued to tout Philadelphia's latest offer to District Council 33, which she claims includes the largest wage increase a mayor has extended the union in their first term in over 30 years.

With Independence Day less than 24 hours away, city leaders on Thursday encouraged visitors to come to Philadelphia to celebrate the holiday despite the strike.

What's New?:

Mayor Parker on Thursday continued to champion the city's offer to District Council 33, which she calls ‘historic’ and ‘fiscally responsible.’ 

"The City of Philadelphia put its best offer on the table, and unfortunately, District Council 33 did not accept it," Parker said on Thursday. "The City of Philadelphia offered to return to the table today and the union did not accept that offer."

Parker claims the city's offer that raises wages by more than 13% is the largest increase a Philadelphia mayor in their first term has extended to District Council 33 in over 30 years. It's a larger increase over 4 years for municipal blue collar union workers, than recent agreements in New York, Washington D.C., Washington, and Phoenix. 

Included in the city's offer is also a fifth-tier pay scale for District Council 33 and an opportunity for union members to take part in the city's $2B housing plan.

"We want our DC 33 colleagues working alongside us now, as soon as possible," Philadelphia Managing Director Adam Theil said. "The proposal – the fair and fiscally responsible proposal that's on the table – will pay DC 33 employees more." 

What they're saying:

With Independence Day looming less than 24-hours away, city leaders encouraged visitors to still come to Philadelphia despite the work stoppage. 

"There will be no stopping us on delivering what will be the best in the country Fourth of July free concert here on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway," Director of Special Events Jazelle Jones said.

Leaders ensured that they will have enough staff to work during all the city's planned Independence Day gatherings, including sanitation workers and emergency responders.

"We have four major events that will be occurring throughout the day, we are at our full heightened alert and staffing to deal with any incidents that happen down here," Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said.

As the city continues to deal with an ongoing trash issue, Philadelphia leaders urged residents to wait until their scheduled trash days to utilize their nearest dumping sites.

Local perspective:

"We’re frustrated and it’s not gonna get better it’s gonna get worse every day it’s gonna get Higher and higher," said Hasen Moss of Germantown. "You wouldn’t want to come here would you Noooo be honest with ya you wouldn’t want to come deal with that would you? NOPE. So why should I have to come and deal with this." 

""Why are they doing this? I just want to know why? Rats gonna be all over the place. Why aren’t they putting them in the dumpster i could see if they weren’t empty, but they are," said Kirk Holt of Germantown.

"I don’t want to keep spreading Germs so I thought to put the gloves on to keep myself as safe as possible while I dump the trash," said Tasia, Germantown resident. "I realize from dumping the trash today it’s a lot it’s heavy it’s hot and we got to get the city cleaned up this is crazy!"

The backstory:

District Council 33 members took to the picket lines on Tuesday 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 Philadelphia 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.

The two sides reconvened on Wednesday, and negotiations wore well into the evening, but no news of an impending deal came from the meeting. 

Meanwhile, 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. 

PhiladelphiaNews