Members of AFSCME District Council 33, Philadelphia's largest municipal union, reached a tentative new contract agreement with the city Wednesday, ending a labor strike that began at midnight last Tuesday.

The union represents workers across multiple city departments, from police dispatchers and crossing guards to maintenance workers at Philadelphia International Airport, city sanitation workers who collect weekly trash pickups and many more.

Mayor Cherelle Parker said the deal includes 3% raises for each year of a three-year contract, and adds a new fifth step to the salary scale of 2% that will benefit union members with long enough records of service. 

The salary scale increase will take effect immediately, and half of the DC 33 membership qualifies for it, according to Parker. By the end of the three-year deal, 80% of the union's members will be eligible for the step increase.

Parker said union members will have been given a total of 14% in pay increases over her first term, more than any other mayor. DC 33 was looking for a 15% wage increase over the next three years, meaning a 5% raise each year. The tentative deal has that number at a total of 9% over three years.

"I want you to know, Philadelphia, this is a new, permanent salary increase that every member of District Council 33 will be able to benefit from," Parker said.

The deal also comes with a $1,500 bonus in the first year. The city says the deal on the table will cost $115 million.

The Parker administration said the deal is "fair and fiscally responsible."

"This is a good deal, but it is just the beginning of the investment that Mayor Parker and this administration is committed into making into our workforce," Sinceré Harris, the chief deputy mayor of Philadelphia, said. 

Negotiations ended before sunrise Wednesday morning and DC 33 President Greg Boulware didn't hold back his feelings, saying there was a deal "unfortunately."

"The city of Philadelphia has to do better by its members, has to put the members and the workers and all the essential functions as a priority of the city," Boulware said. "I don't feel like that's been done."

Workers are headed back to work Wednesday or "as soon as they can get to work," Boulware said.

Regular trash collection to resume Monday, Parker says

Parker said in a news conference that regular trash collection is scheduled to resume on Monday.

Parker said residents should hold their trash until then or take it to one of the city's six sanitation convenience centers.

Is the Philadelphia strike over?

This is a tentative end to the strike. While workers have been told to head back to work, the contract worked out Wednesday morning still needs to be ratified by DC 33's members. 

"The method and time frame for the ratification vote will be determined over the coming days," DC 33 spokesperson Bret Coles said.

Union members needed to head back to work on Wednesday or they would have to use a vacation day, the city said.

Parker got emotional at times during her news conference on Wednesday and thanked her team. 

"These are the people, they were my rocks to help this city get through this process and I appreciate you," Parker said.

After eight days of the strike and hours of negotiations between the Parker administration and DC 33, Boulware said: "We ultimately did what we thought was in the best interest of our members."

News of the deal broke around 4 a.m., about 14 hours after both sides restarted negotiations at the Community College of Philadelphia's West Philly campus at 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Union representation was noticeably absent from Parker's press conference on Wednesday. She acknowledged tensions have been high.

"You can't get through something as intense as this and not have to go through healing time, but our city is here, I'm here," Parker said.

When will Philadelphia pools reopen?

Maintenance staff at city pools are back at work, but the water has yet to return.

One pool in Fishtown is still empty. It was one of 17 pools across the city that were drained because of the work stoppage, but the city says they are in the process of refilling all of them now that the strike is over.

The Fishtown pool's maintenance crews were among the 9,000 DC 33 union workers, including library staff, street maintenance crews and more, who went on strike. All of them are now returning to work after the city and the union reached a tentative agreement.

The city says it is already in planning mode to refill these pools. The city hopes to have all of them open by Monday.

Residents react to news of tentative agreement

Residents dumping off trash at one of the city's 63 temporary drop-off sites in Fairmount expressed both excitement and skepticism once they found out the strike was over.

"That's great news," Jerry Pinero said. "I was worried that this would go on for like weeks and weeks and weeks, and it would just create a problem for the city."

Kristin Coffan added, "Well, I'll believe it when the trash leaves, and everybody [is] able to take the trash to curbside again. But I'm on the side of the workers. Like, whatever they want, give them what they want."

Chutima Barrios has been concerned about sanitary conditions around the temporary drop-off sites.

"It's horrible," Barrios said. "I mean, I feel bad for neighbors around here."

Edward Harris dropped off trash at a drop-off site for the first time since the strike began.

"We were stashing the trash in the house, yeah, because we didn't want to support throwing it here," Harris said. "This is our first day bringing it here, and to find out that the strike is ending is a good thing."

Why did DC 33 go on strike?

DC 33 went on strike after negotiations with Parker's administration on a new contract broke down, with the union initially requesting 8% pay increases each year of a four-year deal, a 32% total increase. Parker and the city were offering 7% over three years, averaging out to 2.33% a year.

Parker had pointed out that the union received a 5% increase for the 2025 fiscal year after negotiations during her first year as mayor. Prior to the strike, she posted a video on social media saying she was prepared to increase union wages in her first term more than several previous mayors.

"We need you, we need you, members of District Council 33," Parker said during a news conference.

Before the strike, DC 33 leadership had said the city's wage increase wasn't coming close to the wage increases the union sought. Parker had called her offer historic and urged members to accept.

As the week went on, talks stopped and started multiple times without coming to an agreement. Judges granted multiple city requests for court orders sending workers in some critical services, like the medical examiner's office, the Philadelphia Water Department and police dispatch, back to work.

The strike drew even more attention when, on the eve of the July 4 Wawa Welcome America concert on the Ben Franklin Parkway, headliner LL Cool J announced he was "not going to cross a picket line and perform for money while people are hurting," and pulled out of the show. News that fellow headliner Jazmine Sullivan followed suit broke on the day of the show.