ALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ / Staff PhotographerIn early March, The Streets Department halted a partnership with a private street litter pick-up company over a union grievance.
While the company services continue to operate as normal, the Streets Department will no longer provide Glitter access to trash collection outside of the regular schedule, leaving residents to hold on to street litter until trash day.Philadelphia’s street litter problemwhere neighbors would be able to report streets that needed to be cleaned, sign up for block-cleaning services, volunteer and get paid for picking up trash.
A copy of the grievance document, provided by Glitter, states that by assigning “Local 427 Bargaining Unit work to individuals who are not members of the Local’s Bargaining Unit,” the city breached union agreements made as far back as 1988.Although Glitter schedules block clean-ups the day before trash day, the service can also be booked afterward.
So much for clean streets! Who am I kidding, the streets will still be filthy.