Philadelphia city workers union leader says they will walk if no deal by July 1

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The head of Philadelphia’s largest municipal workers union said the two sides are “stratospheres” apart when it comes to key issues in the current contract talks.

“If we don’t have a contract in place by midnight on June 30th, at 12:01 am, District Council 33 will be on strike,” said Greg Boulware, president of AFSCME District Council 33.

It appears that few of the outstanding issues have been resolved, but bridging the gap over wages could be the most difficult to rectify.

“We are on different planets as far as wages, and we are in different neighborhoods as far as pensions,” Boulware said.

Boulware said they still don’t have agreement on what the city considers abuse of sick time, or easing the requirement that all the members of the union have to be city residents, something other city unions have won through arbitration.

If they do walk, it will be the first time in decades that city workers have gone on strike. The last walkout occurred in 1986 and lasted 20 days, after then-union President Earl Stout allowed trash mounds to pile up on city dump sites.

Boulware said the union was ready to negotiate around the clock to come up with a deal. Still, the union’s social media accounts were calling for volunteers to assemble picket signs at the union hall and set up pick-up points to make sure the signs got to the city workers for a walkout.

The union represents key employees, including school crossing guards and sanitation workers. A strike could become a major headache for Mayor Cherelle Parker because it would coincide with the city’s Welcome America celebration, which includes the July 4 concert and fireworks. Those celebrations usually end with a major trash cleanup on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

Boulware said he’s sympathetic to the trash concerns, but understands the leverage he has as a walkout would lead to trash piling up on the streets at the height of summer.

“We are the neighbors, the friends, the family of all of Philadelphia,” Boulware said.

He said it’s unfortunate that some of his workers’ wages are so low, they have to use social services that other members of his union provide in order to make ends meet, and he wants that to end.

The four municipal workers union contracts all end June 30, but the police and fire unions are not permitted to strike. Their deals are worked out through binding arbitration. District Council 47, which represents the city’s white-collar workers, usually follows the lead of their larger blue-collar counterpart, but has stayed silent about their talks so far.

Parker refused to talk about the negotiations during a public appearance Thursday.