Trash Goes Uncollected, City Hall Is Disrupted in Philadelphia Strike

More than 15,000 municipal workers went on strike over pay and benefits Tuesday, leaving trash uncollected, many public swimming pools closed and City Hall functions disrupted in the nation’s fifth largest city.

“No money, no work. That’s it!” shouted one striker who stood, arms linked with others, in a crowd that blocked access to city offices.

Common Pleas Judge Alfred DiBona later issued a temporary restraining order limiting picketing to two persons at each entrance.

Celebrations Threatened

One union leader said strikers would disrupt the city’s Fourth of July celebrations unless the walkout is settled by then.

“We’re going to do everything that we lawfully and legally can to make it an unpleasant situation,” said Thomas Paine Cronin, president of District Council 47 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

That local represents about 2,500 white-collar employees, and the union’s District Council 33 represents 12,884 blue-collar workers.

The city’s clubs and restaurants issued a statement saying that they had made “strike contingency plans” to haul away the trash from three days of food, music and other events planned Friday through Sunday, and Mayor W. Wilson Goode said the city would proceed with a planned concert, a parade and other festivities.

The strike by municipal employees began simultaneously with a walkout of several thousand workers at seven private hospitals and one private mental health center. But tentative agreements providing a 12.5% pay raise over three years ended the strike at the hospitals within a few hours.