Trash pickup set to resume in Philadelphia Monday

SPRING GARDEN (WPVI) — - Residential trash pickup will resume in Philadelphia Monday, nearly two weeks after 9,000 members of District 33 went on strike. Those union members are set to vote on a tentative agreement with the city starting Monday.

Residents Action News spoke with said they are thankful trash pickup is resuming Monday.

“It hits your nose first and then you catch it with your eyes, and it’s horrible,” said Aleko Kontos, of Fairmount.

People living in Philadelphia say the piles of trash on the sidewalks are unbearable.

“It’s disappointing, it smells bad,” said Jean-Nicole Place, of Fairmount.

The trash piled up after more than 9,000 blue-collar employees from District Council 33 walked off the job July 1, seeking better pay and benefits after negotiations with the city failed. Its membership includes sanitation workers. The union says they earn an average $46,000 a year.

“People need to be able to live and work in the cities that they take care of and I hope this actually shows Philadelphians how important our sanitation workers are,” said Tasneem Siddiqui, of Spring Garden.

Residents had to hold on to trash or take to designated sites. But some had just left trash to rot curbside since the start of the strike.

“We had to go drop it off at the one of those communal dumpsters they set up so that was quite a little bit of an inconvenience,” said Andrew Markman Guzick, of Fairmount.

On Wednesday, the union reached a tentative agreement with the city. It gives workers a 3% raise in each of the next three years. It’s far from the union’s quest for 5% annual pay hikes. After taking days to clear temporary trash sites and illegal dumps, residential trash collection is set resume tomorrow.

“I’m glad that they are figuring out and picking up the trash, but I also think that our sanitation workers and everyone who went on strike should have gotten more,” said Nora Vaughan, of Center City.

Union members must still ratify the agreement. Voting on the negotiated deal starts Monday. Results are expected July 21.

If union members don’t approve the deal leaders would have to go back to the drawing board.