SEPTA Regional Rail conductors and engineers have authorized a strike

The two unions that represent SEPTA Regional Rail conductors and engineers have voted to authorize a strike if they cannot reach an agreement with SEPTA on a new contract.

The contract expired in March for the engineers with Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), Division 71. They should have 230 members when fully staffed, according to the union, and currently have just 177.

According to BLET, all engineers who were eligible to vote were in favor of authorizing a strike, granting BLET National President Eddie Hall the authority to call for a work stoppage.

It’s been about two years since the more than 400 conductors and assistant conductors have had a current contract. They’re represented by International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, Transportation Division (SMART-TD), Local 61. Of the eligible SMART members who voted, 304 were in favor of authorizing a strike. Two members voted against the measure.

“The vote wasn’t unexpected. There have been additional meetings with the federal mediator and we’re going to continue to work through that process,” said SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch. “We want to make sure all our employees are fairly compensated and that includes on Regional Rail.”

According to the engineer and conductor unions, SEPTA Regional Rail pays less than any other U.S. passenger railroad system. Both unions are also negotiating COVID-19 hazard pay as part of the new contract.

“With the new contract on commuter lines in the Northeast, a newly promoted engineer on SEPTA is paid approximately 58% per hour less than his or her counterparts,” national BLET vice president James P. Louis said.

Louis added that parental leave and pension benefits offered to SEPTA bus drivers and competing commuter agencies are not available to Regional Rail employees.

In recent years, new hires have been quickly leaving SEPTA Regional Rail for those other systems once they learn what other employers are offering, according to Donald Hill, general chairman of BLET Division 71, and Ray Boyer, general chairperson of SMART Local 61.

“My hope is SEPTA will see that all the men and women, locomotive engineers and conductors, are united. They are fully awake to the disparities in pay and benefits between regional rail and other railroads,” Hill said. “These disparities need to be fixed, now. We should not be the lowest paid in the nation and we need a supplemental pension,” referring to the fact that other commuter railways add an extra benefit to increase the low Federal Railroad Administrations pensions crews get instead of Social Security. SEPTA does not offer such a benefit, he said.

For both unions, voting has been in progress since Oct. 23, when union leaders said they planned to announce the results together nearly a month later. BLET’s bylaws require that voting be conducted by mail.

Since the voting by BLET and SMART members began last month, SEPTA reached a new agreement with its largest union, Transport Workers Union, Local 234. The 5,000-member local, which represents bus, trolley, and transit train operators, ratified the contract on Nov. 10.

SEPTA traditionally engages in “pattern bargaining,” using contracts reached with TWU Local 234 to set a template for deals with other unions.

“Unfortunately, this strategy has disproportionately affected conductors, leaving us significantly behind our industry peers in terms of compensation,” Boyer said. He added that the conductors and engineers are the only bargaining units at SEPTA that still haven’t received COVID-19 hazard pay.

“SEPTA is demanding a front-row effort from conductors while offering nosebleed pay,” he said.

Boyer said SMART’s last scheduled mediation session was postponed because TWU hadn’t ratified its contract yet. The next one is set for Dec. 20, Boyer said.

Under the Railway Labor Act, both BLET and SMART must undergo a specific process of bargaining, mediation, and arbitration before going on strike.

The last strike to affect SEPTA Regional Rail was by engineers and electrical workers in 2014, who had been working without a new contract for years. The work stoppage lasted just one day, after President Barack Obama appointed an emergency board to mediate the dispute.

By contrast, TWU Local 234 — which represents about 5,000 SEPTA bus, trolley, and subway operators and mechanics — doesn’t have to abide by the same process. In the weeks leading up to their Oct. 27 tentative agreement, the union had threatened to go on strike, possibly as soon as the moment their contract expired at 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 31.

Hill said in an interview last month that the numerous SEPTA unions have been collaborating more over the past decade. “We all realized it’s better to work together than be picked apart.”

This strike authorization comes amid other labor disputes between SEPTA and its unions. The agency is also in negotiations with its transit police union, which has been working without a contract since March. They could walk off the job as early as Monday afternoon, after voting last month to authorize a strike.