Lessons From the SEPTA Strike

With the strike finally over, I think its safe to saw we've all learned a lot from it.

1. SEPTA workers have the ability to go on strike, despite the fact that they provide a public service. We need a law passed that treats them just as we do with other public service jobs that risk lives such as cops and fire: Binding arbitration.

2. The City Unions have gone without a contract since June 30th, and are now looking at this current dispute and Nutter's involvement and are getting some ideas.

3. We've all learned that we can, to some degree, live without SEPTA buses and subways.

4. A lot of people got a lot of extra exercise due to the strike and walked, biked, and even skateboarded to get to where they had to go.

5. If you're going to go to a protest as a supporter, bring friends. SHEESH!



So what will we actually learn? Well, there are countless lessons in life to learn from, but to actually retain that knowledge and apply it is rare and harder to do.

Hopefully we will learn that the best way to settle a problem is head on. As I wrote a few months ago in my review of "I Kill Giants", I talked about how our "giants" are the problems we avoid. The longer we wait, the worse they get. To that end, the City Union's have been without a contract for over 4 months. If we simply ignore it, its not going to go away. The best thing to happen is for the president of that union to try and talk to Nutter, and vice-versa.

So what's the solution to TWU 234 and the SEPTA strike threat? Pass a law, as soon as possible, making it illegal for them to strike and forcing them into binding arbitration. Again, its based on the fact that they provide an essential city service. They are responsible for transporting over half a million people on a daily basis and provide transport to our jobs, doctors, and hospitals. We can go a while without trash pickup, but not without public transit.

We've all learned new ways of getting around during the strike. In some cases it meant walking through parts of the city we never wanted to and learning something new about the areas we live in, and for others it was that regional rail may be better to use than a bus and subway. We've learned that riding a bike has certain rules and that with more on the road everyone seemed to get a little more considerate.

Will we all learn our lessons? Only time will tell.