PITTSBURGH — The union that represents employees of the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, and the Pittsburgh Parking Authority claim both agencies are refusing to recognize Juneteenth for their employees.
“Slavery and freedom from slavery is the labor movement. That’s exactly what we asked for is a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work,” said Rita Porterfield with AFSCME #2719.
The union leaders said in spite of the date being recognized as a city holiday, employees are being told to report to work.
“As of right now, they have decided they are going to hold Juneteenth hostage in order to try and get us to accept some actions of theirs in the past that were explicitly against the union contract,” said the union’s vice president, Chris Soult.
South said he believes the parking authority is withholding the holiday in order to use it as a bargaining chip.
Channel 11 reached out to the PWSA and was sent a statement reading, in part:
“PWSA recognizes the value of Juneteenth to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States and as a celebration of African American culture. We received the request from our AFSCME union representative in early June requesting the Juneteenth holiday as a contract amendment. While we could not fulfill the request this year, we welcomed having the conversation with union representatives to consider during future contract negotiations.”
PWSA officials said they are meeting with union representatives on Wednesday to continue the conversation. Union leaders said if there’s no agreement, they are planning a peaceful demonstration on Friday morning.
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