City workers feel like ‘pawns’ in Parker’s plan | Morning Newsletter
And funny, but rejected license plates
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The Morning Newsletter
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Good morning! It’s Thursday.
⛅ It’ll be partly sunny at times with a high near 48, but there’s a chance it may rain later in the afternoon.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker has a “plan to bring city workers back” to the office five days a week. But some are worried that the pivot to full-time office work will have negative consequences at a time when almost one of every five municipal jobs is already vacant. In our lead story, hear from some employees on their concerns surrounding Parker’s proposal.
— Paola Pérez (@pdesiperez, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
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Last week, Mayor Parker told The Inquirer: “Philadelphia can only truly say we are ‘open for business’ when all of our workers are back in the office Monday through Friday, and you’ll be hearing more from me on the city’s plan to bring city workers back.”
The Inquirer spoke with workers across nine departments about the mayor’s forthcoming plan. Most of them asked for anonymity to speak frankly on recruitment efforts, safety concerns and pressure to revive Center City.
There are worries that doing away with hybrid work will drive people out of municipal employment amid a staffing crisis. Some said that they and other colleagues are already job hunting.
The workers argue that the policy would penalize parents and other caregivers, that COVID remains a risk, and that the commute and City Hall station itself are unsafe.
Others noted that the idea of coming back to the office to support the revitalization of downtown, in many cases, offended them.
In their own words: “It’s really clear that she’s just using us as pawns to make Center City look [better],” said a Water Department engineer. “That’s not what my job is for.”
David Wilson, president of AFSCME Local 2187, District Council 47, represents much of the city’s currently hybrid workforce, including professional and supervisory roles. He said that morale will be diminished once hybrid work is no longer an option.
Keep reading for more on workers pushing back on Parker’s plan.
Every year, PennDot receives about 20,000 personalized license plate applications so people can show off their regional pride (GO BIRDS), express their love (NO1 NANA), and dispense advice to other drivers (PASS ME).
But many don’t cross the proverbial finish line because, well, they crossed the line. PennDot has rejected 2,872 vanity plates in its history.
How (and why) they do it: PennDot staffers check plates against an internet acronym dictionary, a slang/euphemism dictionary, translations from foreign languages, and upside down and reverse readings of requested configurations. The department lists 16 reasons a request would be denied, but some drivers either don’t read them or, like stop signs, they ignore them.
The Inquirer’s Stephanie Farr spent hours poring over the full list of scrapped plates. She came to find that each one was an insight into a Pennsylvanian’s mind and how they want to express themselves in seven characters or less.
Some examples:
🚫 LFG PHLS (Let’s [expletive] go Phils)
🚫 HGIH MI (”I’m high” backwards)
🚫 FECKIT (PennDot doesn’t take kindly to tangential swear words, like this Irish euphemism)
🚫 2020SUX (because people really wanted to express their disdain for the first year of this decade)
From clever to crude, see more rejected plates in Stephanie Farr’s latest.
What you should know today
The president of the union representing roughly 10,000 Philadelphia municipal workers has been removed from office for making decisions on staff salaries and certain other expenditures without getting approval from the union’s executive board.
Four Philadelphia police officers fired for misconduct, including sexual harassment and using racial slurs, have been reinstated after arbitrators concluded they should be permitted to return to the force, city officials said.
City Council has canceled its weekly meeting on Thursday following the unexpected death this week of Chief Clerk Michael A. Decker, according to an internal Council email that was obtained by The Inquirer.
Marita Crawford, one of labor leader Johnny Doc’s closest allies, was sentenced to 15 days behind bars Wednesday for stealing from the workers whose interests she’d been hired to represent.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker spent nearly a million dollars in campaign funds on salaries and benefits for the staffers who helped her clinch the mayoral election last year. But it’s not clear who received that pay.
12 Philly workers filed Fair Workweek complaints against Starbucks, alleging that the company retaliated against employees for exercising their rights and did not provide good faith estimates of employees’ schedules, among other violations.
Beloved Queen Village hotspot Neighborhood Ramen is closing up shop and moving to Japan. The Inquirer went behind the scenes to learn how they make their beloved noodles.
An investment firm owned by progressive philanthropist George Soros is set to become the largest shareholder to Audacy, the Philly-based parent company of WPHT, 94.1 WIP, KYW NewsRadio 1060, and several other Philly radio stations.
A rare Lego Bionicle mask made of 14-karat gold instead of plastic appeared at a Goodwill sorting warehouse in State College. Now, it’s up for auction and could earn thousands of dollars.
🧠 Trivia time
A rogue animal was spotted walking along I-95 early Tuesday morning.
What was it?
A) alligator
B) bear
C) horse
D) deer
Think you know? Check your answer.
What we're...
🏠 Learning: Philly-area homeowners are staying in their homes longer than most.
🕳️ Hearing: Potholes in the Philadelphia region are getting fixed this week.
🫢 Catching up on: Reesa Teesa’s wild “Who TF Did I Marry?” TikTok series.
🧩 Unscramble the anagram
Hint: Strut down the runway like you mean it for this annual celebration of local style 👠
NAY FELLOWSHIP HIKE
Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Melanie Ellison-Roach who correctly guessed Wednesday’s answer: Dilworth Park.
Photo of the day
Today’s date is kind of cool — 2/22 — though it’s not quite Twosday.
Thanks for spending the morning with me. I’ll bring you the latest happenings tomorrow.
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