Trash and tension mount in Philadelphia on Day 8 of workers strike, while some seek pop-up haulers

By MARYCLAIRE DALE and TASSANEE VEJPONGSA PHILADELPHIA AP As trash and tempers heat up across Philadelphia on Day of a strike by blue-collar city workers Tuesday several residents and small business owners are hiring pop-up hauling services to clear their blocks of garbage even as they broadly help the union s quest for higher pay Related Articles Sean Diddy Combs sentencing set for Oct after split verdict in federal sex crimes event Minnesota state Sen John Hoffman shot times by a man posing as an officer leaves the hospital Trump avoids talk of scrapping FEMA after more than killed in Texas flash flood Bird flu crisis response ends in US as infections decline After Texas floods that killed campers here s what to consider when sending your kids to camp Mayor Cherelle Parker a Democrat is standing firm in her offer of raises of about per year over a three-year contract which comes on top of a raise she gave as an olive branch to all four major city unions after taking office last year I do believe that the mayor has made a gross mistake announced Jody Sweitzer who has watched her East Passyunk neighborhood in South Philadelphia gentrify in her years there leading to higher rents and less diversity Sweitzer owns a popular downtown bar called Dirty Frank s Forty thousand dollars cannot cut it in Philadelphia you know she stated referring to striking workers pay You can barely rent an apartment with that kind of money So I feel as a resident of Philadelphia that she s doing injustice to those workers who genuinely live here The strike by District Council of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees involves nearly workers although judges have sided with the city in ordering particular critical employees back to work at the city s centers water department and airport Judges have also decreed a temporary halt on evictions The two sides have met only intermittently since the strike began but there was hope they would return to the bargaining table on Tuesday In the summer of a citywide trash strike went on for three weeks leaving tons of rotting garbage in the streets Trash is cleaned up at a drop-off site in Philadelphia as thousands of city workers remained on strike Tuesday July WPVI-TV via AP Terrill Haigler a former sanitation worker who now does private hauling under the handle Ya Fav Trashman declared stress was on the rise Tuesday along with the -degree temperature It s like Gotham City with water ice he explained referencing a local treat that is famously mispronounced wooder ice by natives We assistance District Council Haigler stated They deserve everything that they re asking for but we also have to think about the residents on the other side There are certain people elderly mothers who have children who can t let the trash sit for five six seven and eight days A shop owner on Sweitzer s street hired Haigler to clear the block Tuesday In turn he hired two teenagers to help him while he drove a rental truck down the narrow one-way street that ends at Pat s King of Steaks Our goal is to hopefully relieve chosen of that tension by cleaning as a large number of blocks as we can picking up as much trash as we can for customers just to give particular ease and particular peace Haigler revealed The city has designated about sites as drop-off centers for residential trash but several are overflowing while striking workers on hand ask residents not to cross the picket line Greater part libraries across the city are also closed with endorsement workers and protection guards off the job While Sweitzer hoped the strike would encourage more people to cut down on their trash through composting city leaders declared other residents were taking advantage of the situation and discarding mattresses and other bulk items Offenders in the city s northeast even put out rotten chicken and cooking oil The chicken tossers were arrested and face fines according to Carlton Williams director of the city s Office of Clean and Green Initiatives This is not a free pass for illegal dumping around the city of Philadelphia Williams mentioned Monday