With Philadelphia strike over, when will city pools reopen?
The strike is over after AFSCME District Council 33, Philadelphia's largest municipal union, and the city reached a tentative contract agreement early Wednesday morning. The city says the deal will cost $115 million and includes a 14% wage increase over Mayor Cherelle Parker's first term.
Regular trash pickup will resume in the City of Philadelphia on Monday. Trash pickup was just one of several city services affected by the eight-day strike. Union members were told by DC 33 leadership that they need to return to work as soon as possible.
Maintenance staff at city pools are back at work, but the water has yet to return.
One pool in Fishtown is still empty. It was one of 17 pools across the city that were drained due to the work stoppage, but the city says they are in the process of refilling all of them now that the strike is over.
At the Fishtown Recreation Center, families were looking to beat the summer heat by using the splash pad at the park.
"We all need cool water when it's 90 degrees," Katherine Goeringer said.
For Goeringer, it was her and her grandson's best bet to cool down on Wednesday.
The pool across the street has been closed for the past week because of the DC 33 strike.
"I also was looking forward to bringing my grandson here," Goeringer said. "Teaching him how to swim or being in the water with him in a child's inner tube. Because it's hot out, what else are you going to do, sit out on the couch all day long?"
The Fishtown pool's maintenance crews were among the 9,000 DC 33 union workers, including library staff, street maintenance crews and more, who went on strike. All of them are now returning to work after the city and the union reached a tentative agreement.
"Typically, the pool is packed and there's a line down the block," Rhianon Schulz said. "It was a ghost town after the strike."
Schulz says the timing of the strike couldn't have been worse. She says seeing the pool empty during a hot week was hard.
"As a mom, it's really hard because school is out," Schulz said. "This pool and park is where we typically go, so not having those options available was really tough."
Schulz says she can now feel relieved, now that the strike is over. She's hoping the city will reopen the pools sooner rather than later.
The city says it is already in planning mode to refill these pools. The city hopes to have all of them open by Monday.
