Thousands of city workers are on strike in Philadelphia but judge orders some back to work

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A strike being staged by nearly 10,000 city workers in Philadelphia entered its second day Wednesday as a judge ordered some emergency service dispatchers and essential water department employees to return to work.

Common Pleas Court Judge Sierra Thomas-Street granted the city an injunction Tuesday stating 237 out of 325 workers at the city’s 911 call center must return to work because their absence creates a “clear and present danger to threat to health, safety or welfare of the public.” The order does not prevent those workers — 32 fire dispatchers, five supervisors and 200 police dispatchers — from participating in the strike during off-duty hours.

The judge also ordered some water department workers back to the job because they’re essential to ensuring fresh, clean drinking water is available to residents.

Seeking better pay and benefits, District Council 33 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees announced the strike early Tuesday, spurring nearly 10,000 blue-collar workers to walk off the job. During the day, the strikers waved signs at traffic near City Hall and formed picket lines outside libraries, city offices and other workplaces.

Mayor Cherelle Parker has said the city would suspend residential trash collection, close some city pools and shorten recreation center hours, but vowed to keep the city running. Police and firefighters are not on strike.

Parker, a pro-labor Democrat, promised that Fourth of July celebrations in the nation’s birthplace would go on as usual.

In a statement Tuesday, the mayor said the city had “put its best offer on the table.” The city offered raises that amount to 13% over her four-year term, including last year’s 5% bump, and added a fifth step to the pay scale to align with other city unions, she said.

District Council 33 is the largest of four major unions representing city workers. Union president Greg Boulware President Greg Boulware said the city isn’t coming anywhere close to the wage increases the union is seeking.

Union leaders, in their initial contract proposal, asked for 8% annual raises each year of the three-year contract, along with cost-of-living hikes and bonuses of up to $5,000 for those who worked through the pandemic. The union also asked the city to pay the full cost of employee health care, or $1,700 per person per month.

In November, the city transit system averted a strike when the parties agreed to a one-year contract with 5% raises.

A District Council 33 trash strike in the summer of 1986 left the city without trash pickup for three weeks, leading trash to pile up on streets, alleyways and drop-off sites.