🚯 Am I a scab if I use the city’s dumpsites?

🪧 A Union’s Perspective on Philly’s Ongoing Strike

What exactly is a “scab” and are Philadelphians unknowingly crossing a picket line? How can Philadelphians support striking workers? Is the union any closer to securing a deal with the city? On the ninth day of District Council 33’s strike, our executive producer Matt Katz talks to Danny Bauder, president of Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO, to get to the bottom of these questions. [🎧 City Cast Philly]

🕊️ Gun Violence Survivor Among Victims in Grays Ferry Mass Shooting

As police continue to investigate Monday’s mass shooting in Grays Ferry, the community mourns the victims – including 24-year-old Azir Harris. Paralyzed after surviving a shooting in 2018, Harris had been an anti-gun violence advocate in the city. [🔒 The Inquirer]

• Related: If you need help connecting to gun violence resources or learning how to talk about the violence, here is one organization assisting Philadelphians. [🎧 City Cast Philly]

✈️ Shoes Now Go On Your Feet, Not in the Bin, at TSA

Your trip through Philadelphia International Airport just became a few seconds quicker. Passengers at select airports, including PHL, will no longer have to take their shoes off at TSA security checks. Now if only I could keep my belt on, since I keep forgetting to put it in the bin. [CBS]

• Related: Flying out? Here are some tips for traveling through those airport terminals. [🎧 City Cast Philly]

🚗 Big Tech Does Not Learn From the Last Time a Robot Came to Philly

In an X post that sounds like someone asked ChatGPT for Philly buzzwords, Waymo is bringing its self-driving cars to Philly. Let’s see if these cars can handle our potholes. [🔒 Philadelphia Business Journal]

AFSCME District Council 33 members have been on strike since July 1 following the expiration of their contract. As a new deal is negotiated with the city, trash pickup, water-related repairs, libraries, recreation centers, and more have been disrupted because nearly 9,000 blue-collar municipal workers are off the job and on the picket line.

Since then, bags of trash – or “Parker Piles,” as some residents are now dubbing them – have piled up on city streets and outside playgrounds, with dumping becoming rampant. Nearly all library branches are closed. Two headliners dropped out of the Wawa Welcome America July 4th Concert in solidarity with striking workers. A driver struck two sanitation workers on the picket line. Philadelphia Gas Works equipment was vandalized because a worker was not striking, despite the fact that PGW employees are not even on strike. While the city pays overtime to supervisors who are now filling in, striking workers say they don’t earn a living wage.

So how did we get to this point?

Here’s a preview of City Cast Philly executive producer Matt Katz’s conversation with Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO President Danny Bauder, who lays out the events that led to the strike and how striking workers hope residents support them during the work stoppage.

Part of the AFL-CIO messaging has been that one thing that Philadelphians should not be doing in order to support the strike is to not use the city dumping sites. Philadelphians who throw out their own trash – are we “scabs for” doing so?

“ The short answer is no. If you're taking your trash to one of the sites, you are not individually a scab, but unfortunately what you may be participating in unknowingly is scabbing because sanitation workers are on strike. They're not processing waste and recycling that comes into the sanitation sites. People who are not members of District Council 33 are doing that work. And so there are people who are actively scabbing the jobs of union members who are under a collective bargaining agreement. And so that is something that is behavior that we discourage.”