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.
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.
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.
Philadelphia is not the only area dealing with a strike. Trash also piled up across more than a dozen Massachusetts towns Tuesday after 400 waste collection workers went on strike ahead of the July 4 holiday, according to news reports.
