Outrage builds over Philadelphia's return-to-work mandate

Outrage is growing from some Philadelphia municipal workers over Mayor Cherelle Parker 's return-to-office mandate that went into effect last week.

The big picture: Philly is the only big city in the Northeast to mandate in-person work five days a week for all municipal workers.

Why it matters: Philly's staffing crisis could grow should Parker's mandate trigger an exodus of workers fleeing for jobs with more flexible schedules.

State of play: City workers have accused the Parker administration of being unprepared for thousands of employees to return to their office desks starting July 15, per the Inquirer and WHYY .

• Some staff say they returned to cramped offices without enough desks and are lacking resources.
• Others described working in storage closets and dealing with issues in their officse like ongoing construction and a broken HVAC system during last week's heat wave .

What they're saying: "This entire thing is kind of a slap in the face to workers," one worker told WHYY.

The other side: Camille Duchaussee, the city's chief administrative officer, tells the Inquirer that the administration will address office-related issues as they arise.

• She added the administration will "continue in the direction of creating an enjoyable work experience or an experience that is informed by our employees, even if we don't agree on the location," per the Inquirer.

By the numbers: 80% of the city's more than 26,000 member workforce was already working in-person full time — think cops, firefighters and sanitation workers.

• About 4,000 city employees were previously eligible to work from home on a hybrid schedule, per KYW.

Between the lines: Parker's push to bring back all city employees is a bid to boost businesses in Center City and SEPTA , both of which continue to struggle post-pandemic.

Zoom out: The Parker administration inherited a city government with nearly 6,300 vacancies at the start of the year.

• That figure declined to just under 6,000 at the end of March, Parker spokesperson Olivia Gillison tells Axios.