Philadelphia officials said on Wednesday that the city has reached a deal with a union representing thousands of city workers and have ended a strike that had lasted for more than a week and disrupted curbside trash pickup and other services. Nearly 10,000 blue-collar workers had walked off the job on July 1 as a sign of protest demanding better pay and benefits, after a new contract with the city had fallen through, as reported by AP.“The work stoppage involving the District Council 33 and the City of Philadelphia is OVER,” posted mayor Cherelle Parker, a pro-labor democrat, marking the end of the strike. “We have reached a tentative agreement with District Council 33, which must be ratified by its membership on a new three-year contract that, coupled with the one-year contract extension we agreed to last fall, will increase DC 33 members’ pay by 14 percent over my four years in office,” she added. “We’ll have much more to say about this historic deal,” said Parker at City Hall. “We did the best we could with the circumstances we had in front of us,” remarked union president Greg Boulware, speaking with reporters after the deal had been agreed on.The tentative agreement was announced on what would have been the strike’s ninth day. The walkout, which spanned the Fourth of July holiday weekend, led to a growing trash backlog, with some drop-off centers overflowing.“Keep your holiday plans. Don’t leave the city,” Parker had said. She had promised that the 4th of July celebrations would continue as usual. Last week, judges ruled in the city’s favor, ordering certain essential employees, such as those at 911 centers, the water department, and the airport, back to work.District Council 33, the largest of the city’s four main unions, represents a wide range of workers, including 911 dispatchers, trash collectors, and water department staff. Police and firefighters were not involved in the strike.“The city has the money to pay us, we are the backbone of the city,” Dhafir Gerald, 48, a library security guard, had said last week, as reported by AP.The initial contract proposed by the Union leaders had asked for 8 percent annual raises, every year of the three-year contract, along with a hike in cost of living and bonuses upto $5,000 for those workers who had worked during the pandemic. The union also pushed for the city to cover the full cost of employee health care, $1,700 per person each month.In November, a strike was avoided in the city’s transit system after both sides agreed to a one-year contract that included 5% raises.
