July 16, 2025
Michaela Althouse/PhillyVoice
Mayor Cherelle Parker shares the terms of the city's tentative contract agreement with District Council 47, which represents 6,000 white collar city workers. The deal includes pay increases and new health care benefits.
Mayor Cherelle Parker and the union representing the city's white-collar workers have revealed the terms of the tentative contract agreement they reached early Tuesday morning.
The three-year deal for American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 47 includes a 2.5% raise and $1,250 bonus in the first year followed by 3% raises in the second and third years.
It also includes a 1% fifth step increase in the union pay scale, beginning in 2027. The new longevity pay scale awards workers a 1.5% raise after their fifth year. They receive additional raises for longevity every five years, ending with a 3% raise after 30 years.
The city also will pay 92% of the cost of health and welfare fund claims — up from 91% — and offer Medicare Part B reimbursement for retired workers.
The contract creates a new committee to review citywide discipline, including of police officers and prison workers, and includes increased staffing oversight by the union.
The agreement will cost the city $92 million over five years, Parker said.
District Council 47 had been negotiating with the city for a new deal for two unions, Locals 2186 and 2187, since April, and was asking for 8% increases annually over four years. The unions represent 6,000 supervisors and administrators at City Hall, the Philadelphia Parking Authority and the Philadelphia Housing Department.
On Monday, Local 2187 members completed a four-day vote to authorize a work stoppage. The results were expected to be announced Tuesday afternoon, but a deal was reached beforehand. Local 2186 is not legally allowed to strike.
At a press conference Wednesday, Parker said she would like to give higher raises, but that they would result in layoffs for large parts of the city's workforce.
"If Cherelle Parker the lifelong Philadelphian had her way, I'd give everybody 10% across the board for every year," she said. "... I refuse to join the club of the mayors who made politically expedient decisions when it came to labor negotiations to ensure their re-election, but they'll walk Philadelphia to the brink of bankruptcy. I'm not going to do that."
District Council 47's deal comes on the heels of an agreement with AFSCME District Council 33, which represents 9,000 blue-collar city workers. On the ninth day of a strike, the two parties agreed to 3% annual raises for three years, a $1,500 bonus during the first year and a 2% step increase in the salary scale for the longest-tenured employees. Members are voting this week on whether to ratify the contract.
