Philadelphia Weekly

Aimee Thrasher-Hanson came to Philadelphia from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, via Kansas City and New York to work for the Free Library. That was three years ago. Now the 33-year-old librarian and branch manager of the Cecil B. Moore library in Strawberry Mansion says that salary and pension concessions demanded by the city might be too much to handle. 


The city, facing a major budget shortfall, is currently negotiating with unions representing its non-uniformed (meaning not fire and police) workers—the approximately 10,000 librarians, sanitation workers, health clinic workers, etc. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) District Council 33 represents blue-collar workers and DC 47 represents white collar, including librarians like Thrasher-Hanson. 


Mayor Nutter is demanding concessions on pensions, healthcare, salaries and work rules. The pension program has become a particularly expensive liability, with coffers able to cover just 55 percent of the $8.4 billion committed to retirees. Costs have shot up around the country because pensions lost money on Wall Street and retirees are living (and collecting) longer. 


The plan calls for moving new workers from a defined-benefit plan, where retirees receive a set amount of money per year, to a plan that would make workers invest more of their own money. Unions say the 401(k)-like proposal wouldn’t offer stable retirements. 


Thrasher-Hanson agrees, adding that good benefits are a big reason she decided on a city job. 


In May, Nutter and the city council approved a budget that hypothetically closes a $1.4 billion gap over five years. But the sales tax increase and deferral of payments into worker pension funds depend on Harrisburg’s uncertain approval, raising fears that the mayor’s “Plan B” (apocalyptic-cuts-to-everything) budget could be implemented.


The budget also stipulates $125 million in savings from worker contracts, concessions that unions have pledged to fight. 


City Manager Camille Cates Barnett (who has in the past jokingly called herself the “Dragon Lady”) says the $125 million is simply non-negotiable. 


“We want a contract that is fair to the workforce and fair to the public,” she says. “The real dilemma is that with the current financial situation, we can’t afford the status quo.”


Worker advocates concede the city’s unenviable position—the Wall Street-hewn collapse has sparked nationwide budget crises. 


“Both the city and unions are victims of the economy, along with state and federal policy,” says Stephen Herzenberg of the progressive Keystone Policy Center. 


“This leaves them in a very difficult box.” 


On July 17, things got so bad that the city announced it would delay paying some of its bills. Many city programs depend on state money, and the deadlock between Governor Rendell and Senate Republicans means August dollars aren’t coming in.


But progressive activists argue that the city could close the gap by raising taxes on big business, ending property tax abatements and releasing non-violent prisoners. 


Barnett counters that this budget is the best the city can do, saying, “We looked at all of the taxes, fees and charges, and where we had a case to raise them; we did. All of the proposals included labor concessions.”


Thrasher-Hanson never imagined being caught up in a high-stakes public debate. “It’s weird. I’ve never worked for a city before,” she says. “It’s very different, but I didn’t really think about it. I didn’t look at it so much as a city job as just a job. It’s my career.”


Both sides are talking—and acting—tough. On July 6 the city delivered what unions call a below-the-belt bargaining move, freezing worker wages. 


Union members say they are ready for a strike if need be. If history serves as an indicator, that won’t be pretty for Philadelphia. 


In 1986, city employees went on strike for 20 days. As garbage piled up on neighborhood streets, school playgrounds were designated as waste disposal sites.