Philadelphia Public Workers Reach Deal to End Strike

Americas|Philadelphia Public Workers Reach Deal to End Strike

Philadelphia’s largest public sector union reached a tentative labor agreement early Wednesday morning with the city’s mayor, ending an eight-day strike that had halted trash collection and other services.

“The Strike is Over!” the union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 33, posted on its Facebook page around 4:30 a.m. Eastern. It represents roughly 9,000 municipal employees, including 1,000 sanitation workers.

“I have good news tonight for the hard-working men and women of AFSCME District Council 33, and for every taxpaying resident and business in Philadelphia,” the mayor, Cherelle Parker, said in a statement on social media.

The strike, which began July 1, forced municipal agencies to scale back some programs and suspend others in Philadelphia, the sixth-largest city in the United States. The city closed some of its public libraries and warned of longer repair times for issues like water main breaks or street cave-ins.

The most visible effect of the strike was the overflowing garbage that caused pungent odors across the city. To deal with the piles of trash growing on the streets, the city enlisted private contractors and nonunion municipal employees, a plan that encountered intense criticism over its effectiveness.

The union and the mayor agreed on a three-year contract that would mean a 14 percent pay increase for union members over the four years that Ms. Parker is in office, she said in her statement.

The deal still has to be ratified by the union’s members.

The workers had been operating under a one-year contract extension that expired at the beginning of the month and were seeking a multiyear deal.

Union members had been split over wage increases offered by the city, which union officials said did not keep up with inflation.

The strike was the first extended work stoppage by the union in nearly 40 years.