Garbage Mountains Bury Birthplace Of America As Union Demands Wage Hike

UPDATE: This piece has been updated to reflect that Democratic Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker and union leadership reportedly reached a tentative deal to end the strike.

The streets of Philadelphia are piling up with garbage as a major union strike stretches into its eighth day, according to multiple reports and online video footage.

Garbage collectors, sanitation workers, other blue-collar employees and even some 911 dispatchers abandoned their posts to strike on July 1 on the heels of failed negotiations with the office of Democratic Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker. As the strike endures, crucial services have been deserted, resulting in some closures of swimming pools and libraries to complement the mountains of garbage piling up around the city as summer heat intensifies.

“If this is what we have to do to get our point across, to let the mayor know that we’re not playing, by all means let the trash pile up,” Rhoanda Jones, a member of the striking District Council 33 of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME),