The union for Philly sanitation workers is dumping mayoral candidate Jeff Brown over his ‘pick up the damn trash’ comment

When grocer Jeff Brown launched his campaign for mayor, he told supporters he would “pick up the damn trash.”

It turns out that didn’t go over well with the city workers who already do pick up the trash.

Two unions that represent Philadelphia’s streets and sanitation workers announced Tuesday they are breaking with their umbrella union’s endorsement of Brown and are instead backing former City Councilmember Cherelle Parker in the mayor’s race.

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Their unusual and unexpected move comes two weeks before the May 16 Democratic primary and adds to an onslaught of bad news for Brown, who was considered a front-runner in the crowded field but has faced a series of controversies in recent weeks. It could also have long-term repercussions on the internal politics of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’ District Council 33, the largest union for Philly’s city employees.

Charles Carrington, president of the sanitation workers’ Local 427, announced his support for Parker while standing outside a city facility in Southwest Philadelphia wearing a neon T-shirt that said, “We do pick up the trash.”

“There’s no way that I can endorse someone that takes a shot at the hard work the men and women of this department does,” said Carrington, president of of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. “If he would have did his homework, he would have understood before, during and after the pandemic, we have been picking up the damn trash.”

Carrington noted that, despite skyrocketing residential trash volume and staffing issues that disrupted collection during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, the city’s on-time pick-up rate is now 98%.

Local 427 and Local 403, which represents streets workers and is also switching its endorsement to Parker, are two of the 15 local unions that are part of D.C. 33, which represents about 9,000 blue-collar municipal workers and endorsed Brown in January. When city labor contracts need to be renegotiated, D.C. 33 bargains with mayoral administrations on behalf of the locals, and it usually operates with a united front when it makes political endorsements.

D.C. 33 President Ernest Garrett said Tuesday that he is standing by Brown. He pointed to the successful relationship that Brown, a ShopRite proprietor and first-time candidate, has had with the union for his employees, and he noted that the other candidates are all former city officials who did not deliver for D.C. 33 when they had the chance.

“What resonated with us is what he did with his own business practices,” Garrett said, pointing to Brown opening stores in underserved neighborhoods and hiring formerly incarcerated Philadelphians. “The man, the body of work over 20 years, says volumes as to who he is.”

Garrett, however, said he doesn’t begrudge the leaders of the breakaway locals for their decision.

“I didn’t like what they were doing, but they were being the voice of the people that were hurting in sanitation,” Garrett said. “How can I get mad at that?”

He objected to endorsing Parker because she championed an amendment to the city’s Home Rule Charter in 2021 that eliminated a civil service hiring practice known as the “rule of two,” which required managers to pick from the two highest-scoring applicants for new hires and promotions.

The rule was established in the 1950s reform movement to make the city workforce more meritocratic and crack down on political patronage. But Parker and other critics of the rule, which was one of the most restrictive of its kind in the country, have said it hindered the city’s diversity efforts and tied managers’ hands.

Garrett said that relaxing the hiring process has allowed favoritism to creep back into city agencies.

“I begged her — begged her — not to change the rule of two,” Garrett said. “It just opened the pandora’s box for managers and people to manipulate the hiring list.”

Parker declined to respond to Garrett’s comments, but said Tuesday she was proud to have the locals’ support.

“These are the men and women who are on the front line doing the work necessary to enhance the quality of life in our city and doing the job that not a whole lot of people in this city want to do,” Parker said. “They do it with grace. They do it with dignity.”

She also took a dig at Brown while standing with Carrington and other union leaders at the event Tuesday.

“When you have never had any experience in making a payroll in government and balancing a budget in government, you really don’t know what you don’t know,” Parker said.

Brown said Tuesday that he has “met with the union leaders of sanitation to address all of their concerns and to reinforce my commitment to them and all city workers.”

“My priority is to make sure our city workers have everything they need to perform their jobs safely, with the respect they deserve,” Brown said. “They should be paid wages that allow them to take care of their families and have a better life. I look forward to working with everyone, whether or not they share my priorities.”

D.C. 33′s endorsement of Brown provided an important early boost for his campaign. As a wealthy white businessman, Brown gained credibility from being backed by the only majority-Black union for city workers and the lowest-paid union of the four major municipal unions..

Since then, things haven’t gone as well for Brown. The Philadelphia Board of Ethics has accused Brown of illegally coordinating with a “dark money” political group called For A Better Philadelphia that raised $3 million to boost his campaign and has paid for lawn signs across the city reading, “Pick up the damn trash.”

Both Brown, who is not a direct party in the board’s case, and the group, which as a “super PAC” is supposed to operate independently from Brown’s campaign, have denied wrongdoing.

AFSCME’s D.C. 47, which represents white-collar city workers, has backed former Councilmember Helen Gym in the mayor’s race. Meanwhile, the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 has backed Brown. And the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 22 has yet to announce an endorsement.