Source: Mark Makela / Getty
On July 1, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) District Council 33 went on strike, triggering Philadelphia’s worst trash crisis in nearly 40 years
DC 33, Philly’s largest blue-collar union, represents about 9,000 workers across critical departments, including sanitation, water, and 911 dispatch.
Now, in its second week, the strike has severely disrupted trash collection, left garbage piled up across the city, forced free libraries to close, and limited other city services.
Meanwhile, strike negotiations between Mayor Cherelle Parker and DC 33 remain at a stalemate. According to Axios, Philadelphia union President Greg Boulware is demanding annual 5% raises, as well as pushing for relaxed residency requirements that would allow workers to move out of the city after a set period, and improved health care benefits. On average, members of DC 33 make $46,000 a year.
According to CBS News, Mayor Parker and city officials offered DC 33 a 13% pay raise over four years. The mayor’s proposal included a three-year deal with a 2.75% increase in the first year, followed by 3% raises in each of the next two.
But Boulware pushed back, saying that the 13% figure includes a previous 5% raise from a one-year extension agreed to back in November 2024. “This 13% ideology needs to go,” he told the publication.
“If the mayor wanted to hold onto that position, then the mayor and her team should have signed the four-year deal that we asked for back in the fall,” Boulware told CBS News. “They asked for the one-year extension. Not us. You can’t lump that in now with this current term of negotiation. That’s not how things work.”
As negotiations drag on, trash in Philly keeps piling up, leaving residents frustrated and fed up.
“It’s so bad out here, I don’t know what to do,” resident Andre Morgan told CBS News. “Just riding down, the street, the smells. And the weather next week is coming, it’s going to be so hot out, so it’s really going to be crazy.”
To help curb the growing mess, the city set up 63 temporary drop-off locations for residents to bring their own garbage. But the effort has done little to slow the spread of trash littering the sidewalks, curbs and corners across the city.
Below is a gallery of pictures from the Philly trash crisis—a visual reminder of just how bad things have gotten.
