Flies, filth and wafts of putrid smells define Philly these days. Well, in certain parts.
In its seventh day of striking, District Council 33 (DC333), which makes up 9,000 municipal employees, demands livable wages and healthcare for its members. One critical sector in the union is the sanitation department.
To remedy the work stoppage on trash collection, the city set up 66 ad hoc dump sites. Now, the dumpsters have overflowed, and at some locations, refuse litters the grounds around it for blocks. Much of these dumpsters are in or adjacent to Black, low wealth communities. Ironically, the same enclaves that a number of DC33 workers reside in.
With garbage piling up at corridors and along thoroughfares, the average Philadelphian grows increasingly concerned. Daily, issues ranging from public health, sanitation and safety are brewing like the heaping mounds of rubbish in the city’s summer heat.
Yells from the browner, working class neighborhoods have repeatedly pointed to the environmental problems escalating. To add, you have trucks pulling up at all times of day and night throwing out bags of whatchamacallit. Then there is the furniture, rugs and other non-bagged items peppering the newfangled dumping grounds that lack any oversight.
On the other side of town, the whispers in more affluent, gentrified communities are discrete referrals to rid their sidewalks of any reminder that a strike is happening for the city’s poorest workers.
I live in one of these protected pockets. The brouhaha and hushed discourse has a common thread: When their neighborhoods become inconvenienced, then the issue will be resolved.
Although the city of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection prides itself on building a power base and economy via unions, the stark difference in class rises like the stink from the dumpsters. DC33 pointed out in its original proposal that they are essential workers, vital to the operations of Philadelphia, and should be compensated accordingly. The funk in the air reminds us of that.
Pay them their worth
More and more, you hear residents urging the Charelle Parker Administration to “pay the people,” but negotiations appear halted. Repeatedly, the mayor insists that the offer presented to DC33 — a pay increase totaling 13% over four years — is “historical.” The first woman head of Philadelphia has urged the blue collar alliance to encourage its leaders to consider the offer.
Countering, Greg Boulware, the DC33 president, says that the numbers are really a 8.75% package, and fails to assist its impoverished members with the ability to move from it. Boulware informed that talks stalled due to Parker and her officials refusing to compromise. ”The city is not budging on any of their proposal pieces at all,” he lamented in a press conference. “They have openly said that a lot of our topics are nonstarters for their discussion.”
Meanwhile, officials are scrambling in other areas. Days ago, a court order forced 33 medical examiners back to work after the morgue’s piling of corpses. As well, 911 dispatchers and employees in water management have been mandated to return.
Yet, the question remains: What will be done about this stinking trash?
Being a cleaner city is already a challenge for “illy Philly.” As a matter of fact, that was a campaign promise made by Mayor Parker: to make the elder metropolis the “cleanest, greenest big city in the nation.” All with better waste management, enhanced recycling efforts and tackling litter. The current situation speaks to the opposite, but, in the end, the average citygoer is impacted.
From breathing in toxic, e-coli infused fumes, to the increase of vermin, when pick up resumes, there needs to be a communal assessment of the unseen consequences of living near open hazards.
