LL Cool J Supports Striking Workers, Cancels Philly Show

Rapper LL Cool J is taking a stand and showing support to striking city workers in Philadelphia.

The Queens rapper took to his personal Instagram account Thursday night and announced he would not be appearing at the city’s 4th of July celebration concert Friday.

“I never ever want to disappoint my fans, and especially in Philadelphia. Ya’ll mean too much to me, but there’s absolutely no way that I could perform, cross a picking line and pick up money when I know that people are out there fighting for a living wage,” he said in the video.

AFSCME District Council 33, which consists of 9,000 city employees and is Philadelphia’s largest city workers’ union, walked off the job for the first time in 39 years Tuesday. The union is seeking an 8 percent pay increase every year over a four-year timeframe and healthcare benefits for all employees. 

The union praised the rapper for standing in solidarity with workers via a post on Instagram.

Mayor Cherelle Parker posted a video on social media saying the city offered the union a 12 percent pay increase over the course of her term and that healthcare benefits would not be taken from the workers. Parker took office in 2024 and is up for reelection in 2028, so that works out to about a 4 percent raise per year, half of what the union is asking for. 

“District Council 33’s members contribute as much blood, sweat, and tears as does anyone else,” the union’s demand letter reads. “We all make the city work. Our contract must reflect that reality.” 

District Council 33 represents a wide range of city workers from trash collectors, sanitation workers, and 911 dispatchers, to crossing guards at public schools. As a result of the Philadelphia strike, the city’s trash collection will be operating on a “modified capacity,” according to Parker. 

“There will be no residential trash collection or recycling effective Tuesday, July 1. We encourage residents, and we ask you to please refrain from placing any trash or recycling out for curbside collection until further notice,” Parker said in her video. 

City leadership is in the process of establishing 63 temporary trash drop-off locations throughout Philadelphia. The locations will open at 5 p.m. on Tuesday and will be open from 6 a.m. through 10 p.m., though they will be closed for the Fourth of July holiday. The city has also asked people not to bring any loose trash to the drop-off sites and to only bring up to 8 bags of trash at a time. A list of available drop-off sites is available on the sanitation department’s website. 

Beyond sanitation, the Philadelphia strike could result in delays in 911 calls. To address the shortage, the city will move 200 officers into the 911 call centers, though they’ve warned the strike may result in delays of 911 calls being answered. The city has urged callers not to hang up as the calls will eventually be answered. 

You know, I don’t know the inner workings of Philadelphia’s budgeting, but for the safety of everyone, I hope they can give the city workers their money sooner rather than later.  

While they’ve reached an impasse, Parker affirmed the city’s commitment to negotiating a contract that would hopefully bring the Philadelphia strike to a swift end. “The City of Philadelphia remains committed to reaching a fair and fiscally responsible contract with our municipal workers who are a part of DC 33,” Parker said in a statement addressing the strike. “We are ready, willing, and able to resume negotiations with the union at their convenience.”

Interestingly enough, the Philadelphia strike is not the only one happening right as trash collectors in Massachusetts are striking for a similar reason. The Teamsters Local 25 have said Republic Services, the company they’re employed through, has “refused to give workers a fair deal, pushing them to the picket line.” Republic is currently involved in several labor disputes with Teamsters unions across the country, which could result in trash collection being impacted nationwide. 

If anything, both the Massachusetts and Philadelphia strikes show why city workers are so important and deserve a living wage. They literally keep the city running and do the unglamorous work that often doesn’t get celebrated. At the end of the day, someone has to pick up the trash. Just because it’s not considered a “dream job” doesn’t mean it’s one without value. 

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