Thousands of city workers go on strike in Philadelphia, affecting trash pickup, pools and 911 calls

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Striking city workers waved signs at traffic near Philadelphia City Hall and formed picket lines outside libraries, city offices and other workplaces as nearly 10,000 blue-collar workers walked off the job Tuesday

Seeking better pay and benefits, District Council 33 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees announced the strike on its Facebook page early Tuesday.

Mayor Cherelle Parker said the city would suspend residential trash collection, close some city pools and shorten recreation center hours, but vowed to keep the city running. Police and firefighters are not on strike, but the DC33 membership includes 911 dispatchers, trash collectors, water department workers and many others.

By midday Tuesday, three librarians in town from Knoxville, Tennessee, for a convention arrived to tour the Free Library of Philadelphia on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, only to find the wrought iron gates closed as workers cheerfully protested outside. They stopped to chat with them and offer their support.

“We’re just out here trying to get fair wages, to try to get a better cost of living, because, as you know, everything in the world right now is going up,” said Dhafir Gerald, 48, a library security guard who said he loves the city because it gave him a second chance after a long-ago incarceration.

“The city has the money to pay us," said Gerald, who makes about $46,000 a year after six years of service, the first few with the sanitation department. "We are the backbone of the city.”

Parker, a pro-labor Democrat, promised that Fourth of July celebrations in the nation’s birthplace would go on as usual.

“Keep your holiday plans. Don’t leave the city,” she said at a Monday afternoon news conference that followed hours of last-minute negotiations.

In a statement Tuesday, the mayor said the city had “put its best offer on the table." The city offered raises that amount to 13% over her four-year term, including last year’s 5% bump, and added a fifth step to the pay scale to align with other city unions, she said.

“The City of Philadelphia remains committed to reaching a fair and fiscally responsible contract with our municipal workers who are a part of DC 33,” Parker said. “We are ready, willing and able to resume negotiations with the union at their convenience.”

City officials urged residents to be patient and not hang up should they need to call either 911 or the city’s nonemergency helpline. They said they would open drop-off sites for residential trash.

District Council 33 is the largest of four major unions representing city workers. Union president Greg Boulware did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Union leaders, in their initial contract proposal, asked for 8% annual raises each year of the three-year contract, along with cost-of-living hikes and bonuses of up to $5,000 for those who worked through the pandemic. The union also asked the city to pay the full cost of employee health care, or $1,700 per person per month.

In November, the city transit system averted a strike when the parties agreed to a one-year contract with 5% raises.

A DC33 trash strike in the summer of 1986 left the city without trash pickup for three weeks, leading trash to pile up on streets, alleyways and drop-off sites.

“Like any workers in this country, I think that they have a right to expect a livable wage, and it’s really nice to see our country’s ability to still have strikes and still have public dissent,” Nick Shuhan, a 34-year-old editor and property manager who lives in Center City, said Tuesday. “So I stand with them.”

Trash sits on sidewalk along Cumberland and Fairhill Street on Tuesday, July 1, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pa. (Alejandro A Alvarez /The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

Philadelphia municipal workers, AFSCME District Council 33, strike outside police headquarters on Tuesday, July 1, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pa. (Alejandro A Alvarez /The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

Trash sits on sidewalk at N. 6th and Allegheny Avenue on Tuesday, July 1, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pa. (Alejandro A Alvarez/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

Philadelphia municipal workers, AFSCME District Council 33, labor union that represents 911 operators strike outside police headquarters on Tuesday, July 1, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pa. (Alejandro A Alvarez /The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

Philadelphia municipal workers, AFSCME District Council 33, strike outside the Sanitation Division, on Tuesday, July 1, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pa. (Alejandro A Alvarez /The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

Philadelphia municipal workers, AFSCME District Council 33, strike outside police headquarters on Tuesday, July 1, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pa. (Alejandro A Alvarez /The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

FILE- Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker speaks during a campaign rally for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Nov. 4, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, file)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Michael Wacha allowed one run over seven strong innings while Lane Thomas and Carter Jensen had RBIs to push the Kansas City Royals past the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1 on Monday night.

Wacha (5-5) allowed six hits, walked one and struck out five. The former Rays pitcher held Tampa Bay to 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position and didn’t allow a run until Yandy Díaz’s two-out double in the fifth plated Richie Palacios from first.

Kansas City got on the board in the second when Michael Massey drew a walk, just the second issued over a four-start stretch by Rays starter Drew Rasmussen (6-4). Massey scored from first on a double by Thomas.

Rasmussen then sat down 10 in a row before Jensen’s fifth-inning single drove in Nick Loftin, who’d singled and stole second. After Jensen’s hit, Rays pitchers retired the final 14 in order but Tampa Bay couldn’t touch Wacha. The right-hander leads the American League with 11 quality starts this season.

Wacha got 10 ground-ball outs and Kansas City earned its fourth win in five games.

Jensen also threw out pinch runner Victor Mesa Jr. attempting to steal, ending the eighth. Before that, Tampa Bay fumbled scoring opportunities in five of the first seven innings and stranded five overall.

Royals closer Alex Lange pitched a perfect ninth to record his sixth save.

Chandler Simpson had two hits for Tampa Bay.

Kansas City managed just four hits off Rays pitching, including Maikel Garcia’s first-inning fly ball that caromed off the Tropicana Field catwalk and became a double when Rays shortstop Ben Williamson couldn’t make the catch.

LHP Shane McClanahan (6-4, 3.33 ERA) gets the nod for the Rays opposite Royals RHP Luinder Avila (2-3, 5.50) on Tuesday night.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Tampa Bay Rays' Jonathan Aranda (8) is out at second as Kansas City Royals second baseman Michael Massey (19) turns a double play during the first inning of a baseball game, Monday, June 22, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)

Kansas City Royals' Michael Massey scores on a Lane Thomas double before the tag from Tampa Bay Rays catcher Nick Fortes (40) during the second inning of a baseball game, Monday, June 22, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Drew Rasmussen throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals Monday, June 22, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)

Kansas City Royals catcher Carter Jensen, left, and pitcher Alex Lange, right, celebrate after a win over the Tampa Bay Rays in a baseball game Monday, June 22, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)

Kansas City Royals pitcher Michael Wacha throws during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Monday, June 22, 2026, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)