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), said on June 30.
4th of July in Philadelphia. Trash on C Street and Allegheny Avenue #philly #philadelphia #hereweare #usa #breakingnews #strike #trash #4thofjuly #america #union pic.twitter.com/1tttS7SYZi
— The Philly Captain (@philly_captain) July 4, 2025
“The dumping is getting really out of control,” said one local who has been chronicling the compounding city street trash on his YouTube channel called The Philly Captain.
“It’s disgusting,” one resident told Fox News. “It’s making people sick.”
Another resident added to a garbage pile as he told the outlet that “it[‘s] terrible … here’s our tax dollars right here, we have to take out our own trash.”
The local sanitation department instructed citizens to drop their garbage at specific drop-off locations as curbside pickup stalls. Striking DC 33 workers demand a 15% salary increase over the next three years. A total of 9,000 DC 33 workers are on strike, according to Parker’s office, and Council 13 recently joined on Monday in solidarity.
“The stench is unbelievable,” another local told CBS News.
“It’s just going to keep piling up, piling up,” another resident told the outlet. “We’re going to have rats here tonight like this.”
City officials counter-offered with a wage increase of 13.75% over the mayor’s four-year term and dubbed it the “largest one-term increase by any mayor in over 30 years.” Parker wrote in an X post that she is willing to continue negotiations with the union on July 1, stating that she is “committed to getting back to the table to negotiate in good faith and reach a fair and fiscally responsible deal.”
“We are on strike for dignity at work, the residents we serve, and our families. As the city’s lowest paid employees, we are fighting for adequate wage increases and work rules that reflect the reality of the city we love,” DC 33’s donation page reads.
On Wednesday morning, Parker and union leaders reportedly reached a tentative three year deal to end the strike, according to NBC 10, a local news outlet.
Often referred to as the “birthplace of America,” Philadelphia is now a sanctuary city with a substantial violent crime rate and has been Democrat-run for decades.
Parker’s office and AFSCME did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundations requests for comment.
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