District Council 33 president on end of strike, new contract: 'I'm still quite frustrated'

PHILADELPHIA - While Mayor Cherelle Parker and city leaders celebrated the end of the District Council 33 strike on Wednesday, union bosses remained dejected about the outcome.

District Council 33 members spent a week on the picket line, which caused a major trash problem in the city in the absence of the sanitation department. 

The strike ended on Wednesday when the union and the City of Philadelphia came to a tentative agreement on a new contract that will raise wages by 14%.

District Council 33 President Greg Boulware left negotiations early Wednesday morning, telling reporters that a deal was "unfortunately" reached.

He joined Good Day Philadelphia on Thursday to discuss the new contract and the alleged tactics the city used to bring the strike to an end.

What they're saying:

District Council 33 President Greg Boulware said he is "still quite frustrated" by the union's new three-year contract and how the strike played out. 

"Our members are very frustrated with how the administration has dealt with us and not truly recognize the issues we're facing on a regular basis," Boulware told Mike Jerrick and Alex Holley.

The new District Council 33 contract is for three-years and will raise wages by 14% over Mayor Cherelle Parker's four-year term. It also includes 1-year extension to the contract that District Council 33 members agreed to last November. 

"This is a very significant investment in our employees, while at the same time ensuring that we, as a city, are living within our means," Parker said upon the conclusion of the strike.

Boulware claims there were several factors that played a role in the union accepting what they believe is an unsatisfactory deal. The first of which is fatigue from members, who Boulware said were out picketing in the drenching rain and sweltering heat for a week. 

"Nobody truly wanted to be out on that line to strike, but we collectively stood together to make sure we could advocate for what we thought for was in our best interest," Boulware said. "We needed wages to actually meet the economic levels in this city we live in."

He claims the city tried to "pick us apart" with injunctions that he said began to take action moments after District Council 33 members went on strike. Some injunctions filed by the city forced 72 Water Department employees and over 200 911 dispatchers back to work. 

Another injunction accused union members of illegally picketing, claiming some union members harassed city employees and blocked entries to dumping sites, health care facilities, and rec centers.

Working on a timeline, Boulware said the union was fearful that the mounting injunctions would result in legal action that would end the strike – hearkening back to 1986 when a sweeping injunction ended a 20-day union strike due to a public health risk.

"It was definitely coming, on top of the fact that we already had like four injunctions at that point, and we knew that they were continually going to continue to keep coming," Boulware said. "It's just unfortunate that the city just didn't want to truly meet with us in good faith."

The union believes that Mayor Parker's claim that the 14% raise over the next four-years is the highest increase of any mayor in their first term in the last 30 years is bending the truth because that percentage includes the one-year contract extension. 

"To connect that particular aspect to what we're currently going through is a little bit of a falsehood, it's changing words around," Boulware said. "This particular one that they were offering was 8.75% increase for our members, we wound up settling for a little more than that, but that's not the truth about what exactly was going on."

Ed Rendell increased District Council 33 wages by 5% in his first term as mayor. John Street dolled out a 9% increase during his first four years in office. Michael Nutter didn't raise wages at all in his first term. And former mayor Jim Kenney gave out a 11.5% raise to District Council 33 members in his first term.

Boulware claimed that Mayor Parker wasn't actually involved in any of the contract negotiations, instead she was represented by her team of union contract negotiators. He continued to talk tough about her tearful address to the city after the new contract was announced. 

"We're the emotional ones," Boulware said. "We're the ones who are underpaid, we're the ones that had two of our members who were struck down."

In a statement posted to Instagram, the union said the new contract proposal was accepted by their executive board 21-5. 

"The decision to accept the tentative agreement was made democratically, following a full vote of the District Council 33 executive board with the president serving only as a tiebreaker," District Council 33 wrote in a press release. 

"We set lofty goals as a clear rreflection of what our members truly deserve," they said. "Every demand was rooted in lived experience – in the realities of workers who keep this city moving yet are too often denied the respect and resources that should come with that responsibility."

The other side:

Mayor Parker tearfully thanked members of her administration who helped navigate the city through the crippling work stoppage that saw mounds of trash pile up on streets and sidewalks.

"The work stoppage involving District Council 33 and the City of Philadelphia is over – it's over," Parker said.

"This is a very significant investment in our employees, while at the same time ensuring that we, as a city, are living within our means," Parker, who all along vowed to find a "fair" and "fiscally responsible" offer, said.

Before the deal was reached, Parker spent the work stoppage championing the city's offer, which she said would raise wages more than any Philadelphia mayor in their first term in the last 30 years.

"I want you to know this: Your city values you and the work that you do every day for our residents. This city moves and works because you do," Parker said about District Council 33 members. "No matter what, we can't move without you."

Parker announced that trash collection will resume in Philadelphia on Monday. Until then, residents are asked to continue hauling their own trash to a dedicated dumping site.

"I know how very challenging this week has been difficult for you as well," Parker said to Philadelphians. "Nobody wants to see mounds of trash sitting by dumpsters, or by the side of the road or street."

Parker apologized for the trash disruption, but vowed that the city did "the best we could with what we had."

"To provide the city services that were essential to making our public health and safety a priority during this challenging time," Parker said.

What's next:

District Council 33 members still have to ratify the new contract, which could happen sometime next week. 

Meanwhile, Mayor Parker and the union will try to continue to work to repair their relationship in the wake of the strike. 

"You can't claim to be pro-union, pro-labor, pro-worker, and then not acknowledge to take steps to do things that change the economic status for people," Boulware said. 

Still, Boulware said he remains "hopeful" that the new contract will be ratified by union members.

PhiladelphiaNews