City workers may halt work Tuesday

Philadelphia may have gotten a partial look at what a large-scale workers' strike could look like, as bags of garbage piled up on city sidewalks during an organized work slowdown this weekend. Leaders of the blue-collar District Council 33 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and of the white-collar District Council 47, said their members will stop working at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. Last week, though, 30 out of the city's 200 garbage trucks were sent in for safety checks, inspections and repairs in what Streets Department Commissioner Alexander Hoskins called an organized work slowdown on the part of the unions. He said that damage to some of the trucks, such as broken headlights, had been deliberately "created." The union leaders are referring to it as a "work stoppage" and not a strike because "work stoppage" implies the situation was caused by a lockout initiated by management. They contend that Mayor Edward Rendell's declaring his "last, best offer" for a contract constitutes a lockout. The unions have been working without a contract since July 1. Two weeks ago, Rendell, as allowed under the City Charter, imposed a four-year contract on the union which calls for no wage increases over the first two years of the contract, with a five percent increase over the second two years. The contract also calls for the union to give back eight of the 20 paid sick days per year they are currently allowed, as well as four of the 14 municipal holidays. Starting November 1, workers will be covered under one of the city's three Health Maintenance Organizations or Blue Cross/Blue Shield. The unions are attempting to have the mayor barred from implementing the new contract. Rendell said last week that the unions had rejected his offer, and that he had rejected the unions' counterproposal, saying it would created a $300 million deficit after four years. The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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