Hours into Philadelphia's largest strike in decades, a judge has sided with the city and ordered more than 200 911 dispatchers to return to work. AFSCME District Council 33, which represents thousands of city workers, including trash collectors and police dispatchers, walked off the job on Tuesday after negotiations didn't end in a deal.

Earlier Tuesday, a judge issued a preliminary injunction for the complaint after the city said the strike is posing unacceptable threats to public safety.

The complaint filed by the city Tuesday morning said there is no substitute to the 911 emergency system, and shortly after midnight Tuesday, dispatchers walked off the job in the middle of their shift.

According to the complaint, the city does not have the staff to operate the call center without trained dispatchers to avoid threats to public health, safety or welfare.

"These are our front-line workers," Councilmember Jamie Gauthier said. "These are the people who are answering the phone when people are having the worst moments of their entire lives. They are underpaid. They are overworked."

Gauthier has been a longtime supporter of better pay for dispatchers. 

When the workers went on strike at midnight, the city had police officers fill those dispatcher positions.

"Obviously, it's not a replacement for the people who are skilled at this job," Gauthier said. "The people who have been trained to do this job, and the people who frankly deserve to be paid well to do this job."

The city's complaint said police officers need to focus on their primary jobs and cited the Nicetown house explosion just two days ago as an example of a crisis situation that would especially strain the 911 call center.

According to the complaint, there are 325 911 dispatchers in the city.

The job requires 6-8 weeks of classroom training and four weeks of on-the-job training.

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