Interim leader of Philly’s largest city-workers union is aiming to ‘stabilize’ DC33 after president’s ouster

When Ernest Garrett ran for president of AFSCME District Council 33 in 2020, members of the union described him as “the reform candidate.” He promised to fight for bigger gains by leveraging the union’s “political might.”

But last month, after less than four years on the job, Garrett was removed from his role. The AFSCME judicial panel that discharged him said he made decisions on staff salaries and certain other expenditures without getting approval from the union’s executive board. Garrett is barred from holding any elected position in the union for the next four years.

With a leadership election and contract expiration only a few months away, there is much at stake for the union, which has 15 locals representing more than 9,000 of Philadelphia’s frontline workers, including trash collectors, correctional officers, crossing guards, and library staff.

“Seeing what happened during his presidency … really has been shocking and disappointing,” said J. Matthew Catron, a member of Local 696 who works for the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Catron said Garrett seemed like more of an “everyman” than his predecessor. “But when you break the rules, you have broken the rules,” Catron said.

Pete Cutty, a member of DC33′s airport workers local, said that he backed Garrett in 2020 and that he still prefers Garrett to Matthews, but the allegations were “unsettling.”

“How do we operate in an everyday fashion if we can’t trust our president?” Cutty said.

Omar Salaam, who was vice president until recently, was elected last week by DC33′s 30-person executive board to replace Garrett for the two months remaining in his term.

Salaam, previously a business agent for Local 427, which represents city sanitation workers, is one of six members who brought the charges against Garrett that led to his removal.

In an interview Thursday, Salaam said that he isn’t focused on the May election for DC33′s new leadership and that he’s not ready to talk about contract negotiations. “Now, we’re just trying to stabilize,” he said.

Salaam and the members of his local were outspoken in 2020, asking for better personal protective equipment, hazard pay and COVID-19 testing as they continued to work through the pandemic.

His local was one of two that broke away from DC33′s endorsement of Jeff Brown in Philadelphia’s Democratic mayoral primary last year, instead backing now-Mayor Cherelle L. Parker. (The other, Local 403, also represents workers from the city’s Streets Department.) Their decision came after Brown told supporters that as mayor he would “pick up the damn trash.”

Salaam said that one of his first acts will be to send each member a copy of the union’s contract and constitution and that he wants DC33 to run “by the book.”

“We want to make sure that we never fall into a situation like this again,” Salaam said.

Salaam, along with five other members of DC33′s executive board, raised the allegations against Garrett in October. The others are leaders of the locals that represent sanitation, highways, and Health Department workers: Charles Carrington of Local 427, Damon Kinsey and Leonard Brown of Local 403, and Kim Athanasiadis and Shermeka Core of Local 488.

The six board members accused Garrett of “financial malpractice and corruption” in filing charges with the AFSCME international union. The charging document suggested that the judicial panel consider barring Garrett from holding elected office in AFSCME ever again.

A lawyer from union-side law firm Willig Williams & Davidson represented the board members in the case against Garrett.

Garrett’s defense had centered on the premise that his predecessor, Herman “Pete” Matthews, had made hiring decisions without board approval. Garrett’s lawyers called multiple witnesses to corroborate that, including Local 1510 president Irene Snyder, who has held that position for nearly three decades representing airport workers.

After hearings in December and January, the panel found that Garrett had violated AFSCME’s international constitution by changing certain staff positions and salaries without board approval. But the panel couldn’t “definitively conclude” that Garrett benefited directly from the violations.

“Ignorance of AFSCME rules is not a defense nor is reliance on past practice,” wrote judicial panel member Frank Piccioli, of Arizona.

DC33′s contract expires at the end of June, just weeks after the union’s leadership election is scheduled. Salaam said that current leadership has some ideas for negotiations but that he isn’t ready to discuss them publicly.

A spokesperson for the city said: “The city looks forward to working with the leadership of DC33 on an agreement that best serves both the hardworking members of the union and the residents of the City of Philadelphia.”

The last contract, reached in 2021, included 9% raises over three years, additional raises for sanitation workers, and four weeks of paid parental leave for members.

“A lot of us are hoping that new leadership involves more rank-and-file workers,” said Aileen Haggerty, a library worker in DC33 Local 696 who was hired in January 2023. She said she wants to see a new contract, not an extension of the current one.

“Our membership has grown as hiring has increased over the past year, and one way the city can continue to fill vacancies is by making us feel valued with better pay in our forthcoming contract,” Haggerty said.

Cutty, of the airport workers union, said he would like to see open bargaining in the contract negotiations ahead. He’s happy to see Salaam in the lead role for now, pointing to his proven record as a worker organizer, Cutty added.

“After going through Pete and Ernie, I’m not holding my breath,” Cutty said. “But I’m hopeful.”