Most city employees will be without labor contracts next week if Mayor Parker can’t reach deals with unions

Most city employees could be working without labor contracts starting next week if Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration is unable to reach agreements with the unions for non-uniformed workers like trash collectors and rec center staff.

While a disruption of city services is unlikely when the current contracts expire on Sunday, any delays in reaching new deals could postpone scheduled raises for some workers and increase tensions between the unions and Parker’s administration. And it comes as Parker needs those workers to execute much of her agenda, such as cleaning every block in the city this summer.

Parker, who took office in January, initially wanted all four major municipal unions to agree to one-year extensions of their current contract terms, which were negotiated during former Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration. The police and firefighters unions signed off on one-year deals, and it appeared that the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees’ District Council 33, which represents the city’s blue-collar workers, and District Council 47, its white-collar counterpart, might do the same.

» READ MORE: Greg Boulware has been elected the new leader of AFSCME DC 33, Philly’s largest union for city workers

But upheaval in the leadership of D.C. 33, which has about 9,000 members and is the largest city bargaining unit, has made it less likely the union will go along with an extension. D.C. 47 often follows D.C. 33′s lead.

Gregory Boulware was elected president of D.C. 33 two weeks ago after he defeated incumbent Omar Salaam in a tense contest. Salaam served only four months after the AFSCME international removed the previous president, Ernest Garrett.

Salaam was a Parker ally, and he had not ruled out a one-year contract extension. But Boulware campaigned in part on insisting on a traditional multiyear deal. He noted that the city’s finances are in unusually good shape at the moment and that delaying a year could risk an economic downtown that would give the mayor leverage to be less generous in negotiations.

The mayor’s office and the leaders of D.C. 33 and D.C. 47 declined to comment Tuesday.

When a contract expires without a new agreement in place, unions can go on strike, sign a temporary deal, or continue working under the terms of the expired contract. There is no indication at this time that a municipal strike is in the cards.

Working under an expired contract allows employees to continue to get paid, but it also allows the city to withhold step increases, or scheduled raises, and payments to benefit funds. Signing a temporary contract would allow those raises to continue — but it would prevent the union from striking, reducing its leverage during negotiations.

It’s not uncommon for Philly municipal unions to briefly continue working under expired contracts if talks go long, and the final deals usually involve back pay for raises that were missed in the meantime. But a prolonged stalemate can take on a life of its own, as was the case under former Mayor Michael A. Nutter’s administration, when three of the four city unions went years without new contracts.

Parker is a labor-friendly mayor, and there are not many issues that appear likely to cause major strains. One potential sticking point, however, is the unions’ displeasure with Parker’s return-to-office policy, in which she is requiring all city workers to work in person five days a week starting July 15.

Parker has insisted that she does not need the unions’ permission to require that city employees come back to the office full-time, but D.C. 47 officials have said it should be negotiated.

Boulware has said he also wants D.C. 33 to enjoy the relatively lenient residency policy that the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 obtained under Nutter. All city employees are required to live in Philadelphia, but police officers have been allowed since 2010 to move elsewhere after five years of service.

That will likely be a tough sell to Parker, who as a City Council member supported measures that made residency requirements even stricter, such as requiring prospective city employees to have lived in Philadelphia for a year before starting their jobs.