Will there be a transit strike?

On March 10 JFREY40535 wrote:

As expected, TWU 234 authorized a strike today in the event an agreement is not reached with SEPTA management. Unlike last year, there will be no contract extention.

Should a strike happen, it will be interesting for all of us to keep getting around. If you live in the city and happen to be near one of the few remaining RR stations you will still have options. The rest of us are out of luck.

I'm flying into Philly in less than 2 weeks and will be relying on SEPTA to get around. My question is: Is a strike expected/already underway? If so, will all of SEPTA be shut down, or only parts?

Both the company and TWU 234 agreed to a 1 month extention so both parties could negotiate on an agreement. Nothing has been in the news since. The extention expires on I assum April 15th. The interesting thing here is that this is the date that the contract for the Victory divsion expires, followed shortly thereafter by Frontier. I'd be willing to bet TWU grabbed this opportunity so the 2 unions could collaborate their efforts.

Should be interesting.

jfrey40535 wrote:I'd be willing to bet TWU grabbed this opportunity so the 2 unions could collaborate their efforts.

That assumes that UTU local 1594 (which represents Red Arrow operators) will be willing to collaborate with the TWU, which isn't necessarily a certainty, given the history of relations between the two unions.

UTU 1594 and TWU 234 collaborate? HA. lol Seriously though. I think the Red Arrow contract expires on the 1st. Not sure though. Frontier Div's union is the same as the city's but on separate contracts. But they pretty much follow what the city does.

As mentioned earlier, Red Arrow and The City unions hardly ever can agree on anything though. But I think if ya asked me for a prediction though, I think both unions walk. One thing you won't see though is a repeat of last year. Where everyone got a one year extension.

Why is it that TWU/UTU can walk in the city but BLE and conductors (also part of UTU?) can't strike?

If there is a walkout, the cries of "I told ya so" from Harrisburg will be deafening. The chances of prying any kind of dedicated funding out of the legislature next time around will be about epsilon/100.0

I know we touched on this aspect of a strike in another thread that quickly got off topic, so I'm going to try to keep a closer rein on my comments this time.

jfrey40535 wrote:Why is it that TWU/UTU can walk in the city but BLE and conductors (also part of UTU?) can't strike?

Federal law (the Railway Labor Act).

Now in fact, the rail unions (note now that the BLE is affiliated with the Teamsters) are allowed to strike (and management is allowed to lock out employees or unilaterally implement contract terms), but they must jump through a lot of hoops before being allowed to take such "self-help" measures. They usually entail mandated 90-day "cooling-off" periods, mediation by a federally-appointed Presidential Emergency Board, and sometimes even a contract imposed by Congress.(*)

And as for the transit unions being exempt from the law(**)--it applies only to the "general railroad system" (that is to say--systems connecting to the nationwide network of freight and passenger lines). I presume this distinction was made because constitutionally, the feds couldn't make labor law without some justification under the commerce clause.

*--which in some cases, one side or another can be quite happy with, since it lets them appear militant while making necessary concessions.

**--there's nothing stopping the states from barring transit strikes, and in fact some states have done so: see for example New York, where TA employees are covered under the Taylor Law, which forbids strikes by public employees.

Has anyone heard of the transit police strike or if they settled the contract. Iam a former septa and city police officer.

Looks like we dodged a bullet again, temporarily at least. Wonder if there will be any fix to this before June.

Don't know if there will be a fix before June, but I think cooler heads will eventually prevail especially now that that criminal, Steve Brookins is out of the picture. Incremental contract extensions seems to be acceptabe to both sides, for good reason.


I would predict the TWU ends up paying more for their health insurance when a new contract finally comes out. Union leaders realize if they go on strike they will be shooting themselves in the foot. Next time, there will be no last minute reprieve from the state and layoffs will follow.

Well we're again a week and a half away from the deadline again, has anyone heard anything?

Last I heard a few weeks ago on the radio was that the two sides weren't even talking. I've heard rumors, but I don't think the union members even know what's going on. I wonder how likely another extention is, or if the union has decided to cave into management's demands....again.

The talk is that all three contracts will be extended til September.

SEPTALRV9072 wrote:The talk is that all three contracts will be extended til September.

An extension is about as good as the TWU is gonna get. Though it postpones any wage increases, it keeps the 100% SEPTA-paid medical benefits which are the primary point of negotiations.

SEPTALRV9072 wrote:The talk is that all three contracts will be extended til September.

What contracts are you refering to? There are more than three unions to be dealt with. Hell, I could cite four unions in the regional rail maintenance division alone.

Perhaps you meant to say that all unions will be offered an extention until September. Unlikely, but one never knows with these people.

This is indeed a major breaking point at this time. Unions have been co-operating and conceding for years only to be hit up again every time negotiations come around.

It is time for SEPTA to trim the fat in management. Labor on the rail division alone is down to skeleton crews and has reached the point where not only the employees are placed in danger but, the riding public is not getting the quality of inspection and repair that they not only pay for but is required.

Incompetency runs rampant among SEPTA management. There are also too many so called "positions" which carry too little responsibility. I would venture to say that upper management should be halved. This would provide substantial savings and bring the budget closer to a managable figure.

Of course, this will not happen and the powers that be will run this system into the ground.

They can't even hold on to enough employees to give conductors & engineers a 5 day work week. In fact, 2 weekends ago, alot of trains were annuled because they didn't have the manpower to run them. What does that tell you?

Not to mention the bus operators while they make work a 5 day week, often are behind the wheel anywhere from 8-10.5 hrs a day. All you need is one guy to have a bad night's sleep and there's an accident waiting to happen.

As far as the healthcare goes, I believe we should not be paying what we are for the substandard care we get (like the insurance company telling you what doctor to choose), to make my point quickly, as a government agency, SEPTA or its unions should be setting the standard, not conforming to private industry. Anyway, we know that will not happen, its funny though how this issue dissapears and resurfaces only a day or two before the contract expires as "headline news". Since both sides wait till the last minute to sit down and talk, I suppose there is nothing to report on. Well, here's to 9 days and counting....again.