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The trash is piling up. I'm Jim Drastic. I'm Tiffany Drastic. And today we're in Philly. The city's largest bluecollar union, AFSCME District Council 33. Nearly 10,000 workers just went on strike. Trash pickup, 911 calls, public pools, summer transportation, a lot of stuff is going to be affected. in right before the July 4th weekend. At the center of the fight is pay and dignity. Workers want higher wages and full health care, and the city said, "Take a hike." Nice. Boo. Boo. When the powers that be tell essential workers that their power doesn't matter, we're left with no choice but to reclaim that power. When essential workers stop, the country pays attention. This is what taking back our power looks like. This is what the power of the people looks like. Right. That's right. Thank you. And this is what happens when you demand more. So, let's get into it. Absolutely. And I love this. And you know, uh first of all, just you know, if you've been a fan of this show, you'll know that this is a a pro-UN show. I'm a vested team, sir, so I fully support uh my brothers and sisters out there in Philly. Uh and listen, listen, um they're going on strike for a reason. I've never seen uh a group go on strike because they were just being brats. Cuz they're happy. Yeah. you know, uh, clearly they've been underpaid and underbenefited for, uh, quite a while and they're taking it back for a really long time. A really long time. Tell us, let's dig further into it. What is going on? Cuz this will affect lots and lots of people. And I hear things are going to get quite crazy over there. Oh, it's the mayor came out and said, residents, don't put your trash out. Also, no recycling. Don't put your trash out. Don't put your trash out in a city the size of Philly. Okay. And hey, if you do want something to be done about your trash, we're going to open 63 temporary centers to deal with that. And you have to drive it here yourself. That is okay. That is never going to happen. So the the residents that paid their taxes for all this [ __ ] to be working are the ones that are being punished now. Ridiculous. And there's no I mean, how you going to get, you know, some of the elder elderly folks or or folks who are, you know, uh, handicapped or something like that and it just can't and they can't not everybody can take their trash. Uh, what if you don't have a car? You're supposed to like take your six bags of trash on the train. Yeah, I know. It's ridiculous. So, what is going on? The real tragedy of the whole thing is the 911 centers are, first of all, they're already overworked. They're going to move 200 police officers to the 911 operation centers to handle the overflow of calls. And they're telling people, don't hang up. Like, we know you're on hold. Just like, oh, you want me to be on hold while my [ __ ] life is threatened? So, 911 operators are affected. They're going to bring in police officers to uh handle some of the calls. Oh, that's going to be that's not going to go over great. Yes. And the school programs that everybody takes advantage of during the summer because we work. Anything that has to do with like the crossing guards, if you want to get your kid to and from safe to these programs, good luck. So, listen. Well, apparently, uh it's got to be done. I mean, what else is going on? Well, they're not asking for anything like crazy. They want full healthcare coverage, you know, like we had back in the day cuz as a exUN member, that's what we had. I had fantastic healthare. Me too. Everything I mean, I understand the times are different, but these things have been whittleled away and whittleled away and whittleled away and they're asking for it's really not a lot. This is also after the mayor in her first 100 days gave herself a 9% pay raise and everybody on her staff and now there's no money to pay the union. Unreal. Huh? Wow. The [ __ ] balls. Where's the money, Lavowski? Wow. Uh, what else? Anyways, I'm really pissed about that. They want increased monthly contribution rates. Right. Not too much to ask. They want the city to pay the family members, survivors of workers who died on the job to have lifetime medical. Yeah. Come on. Yes. The person died working for you. Can you take care of their kids' like health [ __ ] Thank you. I mean, you gave yourself a raise, you know? Yeah. They also want uniform and tool allowances so employees don't have to buy their own [ __ ] Oh my god. Let me tell you something. Uh this is a true story. uh back in 2010 and 11 or 2011 I worked at the county of Tamok, Oregon. It's a it's a little beach county in Oregon and uh I worked for the road crew. Basically I paved roads for uh about 6 months which I loved. I couldn't gain a pound. And um but the great thing about them was they gave us a bunch of money to go out and buy brand new boots, you know, uh jeans and different stuff we were going to need cuz they knew by the end of the 6 months our clothes were going to be completely unusable cuz they'd all be full of asphalt. You know what I mean? I'm crawling through a culvert. Could you pay for the boots I have to do that in, please? Thank you. I I built a bridge and and for like two weeks I was on my back, you know, put you know, I mean, listen, you're going to mess your stuff up and they totally took care of us. that was the right way to do it. Uh so that's not too much to ask uh that they can get some allowances because that's what a union is for to collectively stand for one another for when these outofouch elitist try to knock you over and tell you what are you going to do about it and then all of us show up that's what we're going to do about it. Absolutely. And I would say that the $35 I I was in a union for I think somewhere between it was like 10 11 12 years something like that. And uh I was in the Teamsters. I I think I paid about $35 a check or something to that effect for my union dues. And it was fantastic. Fantastic. I absolutely loved it. And let me tell you just a really quick story very briefly. I was on the negotiating committee when our contracts came up. There was about four of us. I worked for a beverage distributor. I worked for the Red Bull uh team, Red Bull Energy Drink. We had our own sales force and I was one of the guys. It was back in like 1999, 2000, the 1900s. Yeah. It was early on. I used to tell people uh friends of mine, I live in Oregon. I used to tell friends of mine who lived in Missouri, they go, "What do you do?" I go, "I work I work for uh Red Bull, you know, this energy drink." They had never heard of it because Red Bull came to America on the West Coast and worked its way east. Anyways, I was on the negotiating committee and uh when you go I'll tell you what, the owners of the company I worked for were the nicest human beings on earth. They worked side by side. They got their hands. The owners got their hands dirty. They lifted cases. They humped kegs. They did all the stuff. But when it came time to negotiations and we sat across from them in that table in that hotel, you know, room, it's not show friends, it's show business. Show business. And they were I couldn't believe it. I was shocked. They I'm like, you know us. Why aren't you giving us these measly? We know how much you're making. That's all it's about. So, listen. Uh even even your best friends can uh That sounds badass. You were in the room. Oh, man. I was there and we eventually uh we had to go to arbitration which means uh finally a federal arbitrator had to get involved because we couldn't come to an agreement. Okay. So we started having our uh uh meetings downtown with the federal uh arbitration and uh after a few of those uh we came this close to striking and we worked it out. Everybody basically got what they wanted. We had to give it a little love. You know, of course that's what negotiations are. You know the union is there to back you up. That's right. And uh I was always glad to have them uh behind me. I couldn't advocate greater for unions. Uh I it was worth the 35 bucks a check for me. Same. Same. I was part of IBW Local 48. Thanks you guys. Boom. It was like 32 bucks a month. We had one contract negotiation and we walked out with everything because they were like, "Do not do not piss off the people in charge of this brand new thing called fiber optics." Oh yeah. Yeah. Right. Back in the Right. Yeah. So, you know, uh, so these folks that are walking out in Philly, uh, you know, this sounds like it's a huge union, 10,000 members, 10,000 members, and this is after they sat down for a 16-hour like negotiation session and the talks just broke down and they walked out and like I mean, if this union this size is like, that's it, we're going on strike, it's bad. Yeah. First of all, I highly support everybody go out there and support this strike. Yes. Support these guys on your social media and wherever wherever else you can. Please support these people. Power to the people, you guys. Power to the people. What else? All the way from Portland. We're all the way standing there with you guys. That's right. What else should people know? Well, there's two rumors. Oh, rumors. I love the rumors. And I'm not condoning or not condoning said rumors. I'm just merely saying she loves rumors. What is happening out there? If you cannot get to the 63 places that they've opened up to deal with your trash, if you spot a young group of guys coming along with pickups, five bucks, they will take your trash to the trash centers for you. And there's a lot of groups getting together, getting a little side hustle on. You want to you want to make some money this weekend? Go pick up people's trash. Go pick up Glattis's trash. Go pick up Mandy's trash who just called in the other day. do somebody a favor. You know, it helps move a little money along. It helps move the trash out of the city cuz no one's coming to save us but us. Hey man, when things shut down, side hustles begin. Well, that's how this country was built. What's the other rumor? The other rumor is some people are taking it to the front steps of city hall. I That's just what I heard. That's just what I heard. I'm I'm not saying Oops. I'm just saying it's not littering if it's your trash. So some folks are when it's on the sidewalk, it's public property. Right. Right. Well, you know, so folks, be aware that this is going on. This just started today. Yes. In Philly, it's the largest union in Philly. In Philly. And there's nothing more American than coming out and standing with your fellow workers on Independence Day weekend. Let's go. Let's go. Please support them on social media. We want to hear, have you ever been in a union? Uh, are you in a union now? What's your experience like? Give us a call at the people's hotline, 503212-4600. You can also email us at shout at the dangerouses.com. Folks, please like and subscribe this video. And if you're listening to us, please give us a fivestar review. If you'd like to support the show, you can do so by going to the dangerous.com. That'll kick you over to our Substack where you can become a paid subscriber. Until then, be safe. Get into good trouble. Good trouble, you guys. And remember, we are all the dangerous ones. Go unions. See you this weekend.

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