SEPTA strike averted as TWU 234 reaches tentative deal

SEPTA and its largest bargaining unit seemed far apart as Transport Workers Union members Thursday night prepared for a strike by stapling together picket signs, but on Friday the two sides reached a tentative agreement on a new one-year contract, during the fifth day of intensive negotiations at a Center City hotel.

The draft contract, which must be approved by a majority of TWU Local 234′s roughly 5,000 members and the authority’s board, would avert a strike and keep Philadelphia public transit rolling after the current contract expires at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. Union members will vote on Nov. 10.

Sources familiar with the agreement said TWU members would get across-the-board raises and a signing bonus. The deal also includes changes in work rules and SEPTA committed to training existing union mechanics to repair new electric buses instead of subcontracting that work, the sources said.

In a statement, TWU said the agreement would include increases in hourly wage rates for new and recently hired operators; retention bonuses to incentivize employees eligible to retire to remain on the job for at least another year; a pension increase for those who choose to retire in the next year, and a “doubling of the long-neglected disability pension benefit.”

SEPTA CEO Leslie S. Richards and Brian Pollitt, president of TWU Local 234, announced they’d reached agreement just after 4:30 p.m., calling it a good deal for both sides as the transit agency and its employees navigate uncertain post-pandemic waters.

“Our goal was to reach a tentative agreement without striking and we did that today,” Pollitt said. “It’s a good deal.”

Richards agreed. “Strike preparations can stop,” she said. “Everyone can breathe a sigh of relief.”

A strike would have quickly shut down all bus, trolley, and subway service in the city. Suburban buses and trolleys and the Norristown High Speed Line would operate as usual, though SEPTA officials warned of possible spillover delays.

Hanging over the final hours of talks was the tragic killing Thursday of Bernard Gribbin, a veteran Route 23 bus operator, shot to death in Germantown by a woman passenger who was exiting through the front door, police said. The union had pressed for improvements in safety for its members and the public amid a rash of crime and antisocial behavior on the transit system.

The contract does not include any language on security, Pollitt and Richards said, but the two sides agreed to keep working on that issue. Both said that the emotion of Gribbin’s death was unmistakable but was not instrumental in reaching the deal early.

“Everything that we’ve agreed on were things that we had talked about prior to [Thursday] morning,” Richards said. She said she went to Midvale Depot, where Gribbin worked, early Friday morning, “greeting operators as they came in … just talking to everybody and supporting everyone.”

Pollitt, who began his career three decades ago as a bus operator, said TWU members are “sad and sickened,” mourning their colleague and concerned for his wife and children.

“My members are worried about, you know, how are they going to make it without him?” Pollitt said.

» READ MORE: The history of SEPTA strikes

Since Monday, negotiators for the transit agency and the union have shuttled between a negotiating table and separate conference rooms in a Center City hotel for marathon talks on a new contract for the vehicle operators, mechanics, cashiers, and maintenance people who make Philadelphia transit run.

Local 234 members voted earlier this month to authorize a strike if no agreement was reached by the deadline and union leaders decide it is necessary.

Union leaders have been pushing for higher wages, given increases in the cost of living since the current contract was written; steps to sweeten the operator’s job to help recruit amid a staffing shortage; an end to “drafting,” mandatory overtime for operators; and allowing TWU members to perform repairs on 300 new electric buses instead of subcontracting the work.

Negotiations occurred as SEPTA, along with many transit agencies in the U.S., faces a looming financial crisis, called “the fiscal cliff,” that could have an impact on what the agency is able — or willing — to offer.

As federal pandemic aid runs out, the agency projects a $240 million annual deficit starting next July. Last month, Richards told the Pennsylvania House Transportation Committee that riders could face $3 fares and a 20% cut in service if the state does not provide more money to fill the gap.

Richards said the one-year contract allows the authority to firm up its finances before working toward a longer deal with TWU Local 234.

“This reflects the uncertainty ahead and now we’re going to work together to solve funding challenges,” she said. “We wanted to give as good a deal as we could given the uncertainty.” The current contract, ratified in 2021, was also shorter than usual, reflecting the shakiness of the system’s recovery from the pandemic, Richards said.

The Pennsylvania House on Oct. 5 passed a bill increasing the share of the sales tax allocated to public transportation by $295 million. It is pending in the Senate.

Under the proposed legislation, the state’s Public Transportation Trust Fund would receive 6.4% of the money generated by the sales tax, up from 4.4%, generating an additional $295 million annually for public transit operations across the state. The sales tax itself would not increase.

SEPTA says it would get an additional $190 million yearly under the proposal.

Ridership on SEPTA has not bounced back to pre-pandemic levels, and it relies on passenger fares to a greater degree than other transit systems with steadier levels of support from state and local governments.

Although employees are progressively returning to work in Center City offices, as of February, the volume was slightly less than half of what it was in 2019.

SEPTA is known as one of the most strike-prone large transit systems in the country — unions have walked off the job at least 11 times since 1975. Although ridership has been down since the pandemic, hundreds of thousands of people use the transit system daily. A strike would have snarled the region’s roads in traffic, disrupted transportation for Philadelphia school students, inconvenienced businesses and workers alike, and could have hurt the regional economy.