DC 33 Strike: What's next? Will members ratify new contract?
What’s next after deal to end Philadelphia strike, and will DC 33 members ratify new contract?
Representatives for striking Philadelphia municipal workers reached a tentative new deal with the city on Wednesday, Day 9 of a strike that halted door-to-door trash pickup, closed several municipal pools and left several other city departments without workers.
The deal grants 9% in raises spread out over three years, averaging out to 3% a year. Mayor Cherelle Parker has touted the 5% increase from the first year of her administration and says she’ll have raised the DC 33 workers’ pay 14% through her first term, a figure she notes is more than several of her predecessors.
This deal being reached doesn’t mean things go back to normal overnight. Here’s a look at what’s next after the deal was reached.
Getting Philly city services back online
Trash services
Parker and Director of Clean and Green Initiatives Carlton Williams said regular trash pickup will resume on Monday, July 14, and that before then, any residents who need to dispose of trash should make use of the city’s six sanitation convenience centers.
As the city works to get back to normal, residents said they hope cleaning up remaining trash in their neighborhoods is a priority.
“This is disgusting. You got people that live in these neighborhoods, you got kids that live out here. Gotta ride past this every day. Got the whole neighborhood smelling. Everything stinks out here,” a Tacony resident named Kevin said.
Public pools
Seventeen city pools were drained while maintenance staff were on strike. Those pools are set to be refilled starting Thursday, now that the strike is over, with the goal of having all refilled by Monday.
Fishtown resident Katherine Goeringer said she was looking forward to taking her grandson to the Fishtown Pool before it closed in the strike.
“Typically, the pool is packed and there’s a line down the block; it was a ghost town after the strike,” another local resident, Rhianon, said.
Free Library of Philadelphia
Library workers were also set to return to work after the agreement was reached.
“Free Library locations are now open and ready to serve our communities,” the Free Library of Philadelphia said on Facebook on Wednesday, encouraging visitors to check the “Hours and Locations” page on the library’s website for more details on their neighborhood branch.
Any library materials due before July 15 are now due on July 15.
Deal still needs to be ratified by union workers
The tentative agreement is not a done deal — and is considerably less than the 8% a year the union came to the table asking for, a figure they later brought down to 5% a year.
DC 33 President Greg Boulware exited negotiations around 4 a.m. Wednesday, after about 14 hours, and said he wasn’t happy with the terms. Still, workers were told to return to work and many were back on the job Wednesday.
Labor relations expert and Rutgers University professor Francis Ryan told CBS News Philadelphia’s Liz Crawford the contract was probably the best DC 33 could get in the current political climate, with no money coming from Harrisburg or Washington to sweeten the offer.
Members of DC 33 still have to vote on the deal, and are expected to do so in the coming days. It’s not immediately clear when and where the vote will take place.
If DC 33 members vote against the deal, Ryan said negotiations could resume and the strike could restart.
CBS Philadelphia’s Joe Brandt, Jan Carabeo, Raymond Strickland and Nikki DeMentri contributed to this report.
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