Francis Ryan, a professor at Rutgers University, believes District Council 33 got the best deal it could with Philadelphia.

Philadelphia’s first major city worker strike since 1986 lasted eight days and four hours before Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and Greg Boulware, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 33,

The deal includes a new three-year contract coupled with the one-year contract extension and a 14% pay increase over the next four years.

This decision is in direct violation of the clear will of the rank and file and without any vote. The strike must be renewed immediately and expanded to include transit workers, white-collar employees and all other sections of the working class in Philadelphia.

The largest municipal workers’ strike in decades in the city of Philadelphia has ended after 9,000 members of AFSCME District Council 33, who are primarily sanitation workers, walked off the job a week ago.

Between 1,200 and 1,300 sanitation workers are part of the AFSCME strike for higher wages and other improvements. Private contractors are handling trash drop-offs during the strike.

AFSCME District Council 33 is seeking to rapidly wind down the strike in discussions with the city while keeping its members in the dark.