(Reuters) – Unions representing thousands of Philadelphia city workers are suing mayor Cherelle Parker about her attempt to have municipal officials return to the office five days a week starting this month without negotiations.
District Council 47 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees represents more than 3,000 city union members who have been negotiating work-from-home agreements since 2020, in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In May, Parker, a Democrat, told all city employees that hybrid work arrangements would end and that they would all be required to work in the office or on-site full-time starting July 15.
District Council 47, which represents several local unions that sued Parker in Philadelphia federal court on Monday, said the mayor’s office has refused to negotiate the change in work arrangements and that it violates labor law and existing collective bargaining agreements, allegations the city denies.
Both the National Labor Relations Act and the Pennsylvania Public Employees Relations Act require employers to negotiate proposed changes in “wages, hours, and conditions of employment” with union members. The law generally requires employers to negotiate with employees in good faith, either to agreement or to an impasse.
Parker’s office has indicated it does not believe those laws apply in this case, but on Tuesday declined a request for clarification of its reasoning.
A spokesman for Parker, who took office in January, said the city’s attorneys were reviewing the lawsuit, which asks the court to issue a temporary injunction blocking implementation of all workplace policies not negotiated with the unions. The court is scheduled to hold a hearing on that request on July 11.
In announcing her decision, Parker said working full-time in the office would improve communication among employees and promote “social connection, collaboration, innovation and inclusion.”
According to the unions, many employees who joined the city since 2020 were told the flexible workplace policy would be in place indefinitely.
The majority of Philadelphia’s municipal employees have already returned to full-time, on-site or office-based work schedules. But about 3,000 union members have signed agreements with the city since 2020 to work remotely at least one day a week, according to District Council 47, which did not respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
