Union Votes to End Walkout in Philadelphia

Striking blue-collar workers in Philadelphia voted Sunday to return to work without a contract, bolstering Mayor W. Wilson Goode’s bargaining position in negotiations with the union, which includes the city’s trash force.

Meeting at the city’s downtown Civic Center, about 3,000 members of District Council 33 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees voted 2 to 1 to end their walkout, which began July 1.

The move is a blow to Earl Stout, president of the 13,000-member union, who had steadfastly resisted a return without a contract.

Sister Union Settled

But members of the union that represents workers in the sanitation, water, health and parks departments apparently saw little benefit in continuing their walkout. They had already seen their sister union, Council 47, representing 2,500 white-collar workers, settle and return to work last week.

“I got a family. I lost money. We could have gone to work 19 days ago for the same thing,” said Mark Meighan, 26, a city water department treatment plant operator.

“I don’t like going back without a contract myself, but the majority voted,” said a man who said he worked for the city streets department, but refused to give his name.

Goode told a news conference that there would be no more negotiations with the union and that he had made his last offer, including a 10% raise over two years, the same amount given the white-collar union. The blue-collar union has been seeking a one-year, 13% pay raise.

On Saturday, Goode won all other significant points in a 20-hour bargaining session. The union agreed to allow the city to have an independent audit of its annual $40-million contribution to the union’s health and welfare fund, and dropped its demand for a $48-million contribution to the fund to make up for what it claimed was 10 years of underfunding.

Wages now present the only barrier to an agreement. The sides are “not that far off on the numbers,” Stout said.

The union’s position was undercut Saturday as the garbage workers returned to work under a judge’s order.

Mayor ‘Feels Great’

Mayor Goode and other city officials basked in the glow of these developments Sunday afternoon. “He really feels great,” said an aide to the mayor, “and that’s filtering down to everybody.”

“The next move is up to Earl Stout,” said one city official knowledgeable about the negotiations.

Without some small victory, Stout could face considerable wrath from his membership. When the garbage workers returned to work Saturday, many grumbled about losing almost three weeks’ pay and winning no more concessions than they would have gotten without a strike.

Several said they resented that Stout failed to appear at court hearings last week, during which the union was found in contempt for not immediately obeying a back-to-work order.

Threat to Fire Workers

Charles Green, a shop steward for Local 427, which represents the trash workers, said it had become difficult to explain to workers why they should continue to strike in the face of the contempt ruling, which led to a threat by Goode to fire the garbage workers.

“We got guys with 29 and 30 years on the job,” Green said. “My job is to see that they don’t get messed over.”

Goode had nothing but praise for the garbage workers at his news conference Sunday, saying they had done an “excellent job” in clearing the 15 emergency dumps in the city.

Alfred Dezzi, an information officer with Philadelphia’s Emergency Operation Center, said Goode personally visited each dump Sunday.

‘Unofficial’ Dumps

After the emergency dumps are cleaned up, workers will turn to the countless “unofficial” dumps scattered all over the city. Then they will resume scheduled collections in residential neighborhoods.

One city official noted that many garbage workers expressed dismay that they were being blamed for the stench, rats, roaches and vermin that the 40,000 tons of rotting garbage had brought the city.

The workers’ enthusiastic attack on the garbage was an effort to “prove that they’re human, too,” the official said, adding: “I get the distinct feeling that these guys wanted to get back to work.”