No strike: SEPTA and its largest union have failed to agree on a new contract but will continue talking
Transit services in Philadelphia will run normally Monday as negotiators for SEPTA and the union continue talks.
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SEPTA service will operate on a normal schedule in Philadelphia on Monday for morning commutes and other city travel as Transport Workers Union Local 234 postponed a possible strike amid contract talks that have made progress.
Negotiators for the transit authority and its largest labor union met for several hours Sunday, traded information, and agreed to meet again. Union members who keep the stations open and buses, trolleys, subway and El trains running were working for the third day without a contract.
“We’re still talking,” Local 234 president Brian Pollitt said as talks concluded for the day in midafternoon at the Wyndham Philadelphia Historic District in Old City.
Members of the roughly 5,000-member local were poised to strike as early as 12:01 a.m. Friday after their current one-year labor agreement expired. Talks had seemed stalled but after Thursday’s marathon negotiations with some progress, particularly on safety, the sides agreed to keep trying and Local 234 workers did not walk off the job.
The union is pushing for a wage increase and security improvements to better protect frontline transit workers from assaults and harassment. For its part, SEPTA has said that an ongoing fiscal crisis limits its spending ability.
SEPTA was offering a one-year contract with no wage increases but moved off that position Thursday. Local 234 initially sought 10% raises but has pulled that proposal.
SEPTA faces a $240 million deficit that could bring steep service cuts in the next few months as lawmakers in Harrisburg have not acted on a proposal by Gov. Josh Shapiro to increase state aid for public transportation systems.
Local 234 represents bus, subway, and trolley operators, mechanics, cashiers, maintenance workers, and custodians. Members voted unanimously Oct. 27 to authorize a strike.
On Friday, a union representing 350 bus, trolley and Norristown High Speed Line operators in the suburbs — SMART Transportation Division Local 1594 — voted to authorize a strike when its contract expires Nov. 18.
“Operators have spoke out and they have said that they are tired of being assaulted. They just want to go home the same way they come to work,” Anthony Petty, the general chairman of SMART Local 1594, told 6abc.
TWU Local 234 has had talks with District Council 33, the AFSCME local that represents 9,000 city workers, about coordinating strikes. DC 33 is set to announce results of a strike authorization vote next Thursday.