PHILADELPHIA — The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority on Friday averted a strike that would have shut down trolley, subway, and bus service, reaching an agreement with its largest union, Transport Workers Union Local 234.
The one-year agreement was reached about 4:30 a.m. Friday, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports, and must be ratified by a majority of the union’s approximately 5,000 members, as well as the SEPTA board. A strike could have come this Wednesday. TWU members will vote on the deal Nov. 10.
“I am very pleased that we were able to settle an agreement without a strike,” TWU Local 234 President Brian Pollitt said in a statement. “We made substantial gains in wages and benefits and secured improvements in other areas important to our members that also will help the transit system retain and recruit skilled workers. However, it’s important to note that this one year contract is essentially a work in progress. Many of our concerns related to safety and security will need to be addressed in later agreements.”
The TWU said terms include across-the-board wage increases, a signing bonus, retention bonuses, and pension increase for those that retire in the next year; the Inquirer reports the deal also changes in work rules, and a SEPTA commitment to train current mechanics to repair electric buses rather than subcontracting that work to outside sources.
“We are pleased to reach an agreement with union leadership on a contract that is fair to our employees and financially responsible for SEPTA,” SEPTA Board Chairman Pasquale T. Deon Sr. said in a press release. “I look forward to the SEPTA board’s vote on the contract at its next meeting.”
SEPTA commuter rail operations still face potential walkouts; unions representing engineers and conducts are holding strike votes [see “SEPTA engineers, conductors voting …,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 23, 2023].
