SEPTA: No Strike, But That's Not the End of the Story

There will be no SEPTA strike this year, so the doomsday scenario we all worried about will not come to pass. This is thanks to Governor Ed Rendell ordering Willie Brown, President of TWU 234, to keep services running during the talks.

But right now, things may be dire for riders as the first bit of news from the contract talks come out:

Health-care issues had been resolved, and the sides were reported to be close to an agreement on wages as talks ended for the day at 10:15 p.m. at the Bellevue. The two sides were to reconvene at 6 p.m. today.

As he was leaving the Bellevue, Willie Brown, the new president of Transport Workers Union Local 234, said members would not see an increase in their contributions to the cost of health insurance. Members currently contribute 1 percent of their base pay toward coverage.

Considering the fact SEPTA wanted them to pay 4%, this can't be good for riders unless funding is coming from the state to cover this. At this point, this isn't a compromise, its giving into the demand of the union.

Again, Brown has allowed his members to work for 7 MONTHS without a contract before striking, and the average SEPTA bus driver makes $50k+ after 4 years of service with guaranteed raises every year.

The next hurdle now is pay raises, and this is what we're looking at: SEPTA is offering a 9% pay raise over 4 years, while TWU Local 234 wants 19%.

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I've been writing a lot about this over the last week, and its largely because this is a systematic problem that has plagued this city for YEARS! Its nothing short of insane that, nearly every few years, we have the leadership of TWU 234 demanding more and more from a company that has NEVER turned a profit. Its irritating that they hold nearly 80,000 people who rely on the system on a daily basis hostage while making insane demands that can't be covered due to funding issues from both riders (ridership has gone down since gas prices got cheap again) and the state (funding for SEPTA right now depends on the I-80 toll being approved).

SEPTA is an agency on the ropes, and has been for a long time. In 2007 they warned that they would have to cut and eliminate services if they didn't get the funding they needed, and in the end they did get their funding, but raised fairs for Regional Rail riders.

TWU 234's contract expired in March and they didn't strike. It was the first time in a long time that we saw this happen, and I actually gained some new respect for the union at the same time. In my eyes, they realized two things: Going on strike would not help their reputation, and it would hurt their members since they wouldn't get paid during a strike. Considering the economy the way it is, it was a smart move.

In the end, both sides are to blame for holding economic guns to the heads of the people who work for and those who rely on SEPTA.