SEPTA strike averted in last-minute deal with transit workers union

A tentative contract deal between SEPTA and its largest employee union, Transport Workers Local 234, on Wednesday derailed a strike that would have snarled travel in the Philadelphia region, disrupting schools, workplaces, and commerce.

The one-year agreement also ends the possibility of a history-making “mega strike” of roughly 14,000 public-sector union members in transit and city services.

TWU members will get a 5% across-the-board wage increase, as well as a 5% monthly increase in pension benefits for people who retire during the next year.

SEPTA also agreed to improve personal safety amid attacks on frontline transit workers, including bulletproof enclosures on buses to protect operators, upgrades to radios, and fixes to allow communication in subway and trolley tunnels, TWU said.

“We’ve managed to avoid a strike,” said Scott Sauer, SEPTA’s chief operating officer due to take over as interim general manager at the end of the month with the departure of Leslie S. Richards. He called the agreement fair to the workers and “fiscally responsible” to taxpayers and said it allows SEPTA to preserve critical service as ridership continues to grow.

TWU and SEPTA had been bargaining almost daily since Nov. 8 after the current contract expired and union leaders postponed a strike, agreeing to keep meeting with management as long as there was progress. Local 234 members authorized a strike and have been working without a contract.

“I was pretty close” to calling a strike, TWU Local 234 President Brian Pollitt said, calling the negotiations “tedious.” Sauer noted that the transit agency’s “unprecedented” fiscal crisis made talks especially difficult.

SEPTA initially offered no wage increase and at one point proposed that TWU members pay more for their health-care coverage. Pollitt said both were unacceptable to the union, though it did agree early on to aim for a one-year deal, given the circumstances.

The agency has a $153 million operating deficit, whittled down from $240 million before a $46 million one-time payment from the state and the use of reserve funds. The crisis developed as SEPTA’s share of federal pandemic relief for the nation’s transit systems ran out earlier this year.

Meanwhile, prospects remain dim in Harrisburg for a deal on a more sustainable increase in operating aid for statewide public transportation providers. SEPTA expects to start the fiscal year that begins July 1 with a $240 million deficit.

“This is not a healthy way for us to do business. We have to be able to come to long-term agreements with our unions, for the good of the membership, for the good of the service, for the good of our customers,” Sauer said. “That structural deficit has to be plugged at some point, and it’s going to take a legislative action to do that.”

With roughly 5,000 members, Local 234 represents bus, subway, and trolley operators, mechanics, cashiers, maintenance people, and custodians — those who keep the buses, trolleys, and subways moving. A strike would have shut down public transit within Philadelphia city limits.

Leaders of TWU Local 234, city-workers union AFSCME District Council 33, and the union representing 350 bus, trolley, and Norristown High Speed Line operators in the suburbs, SMART Local 1594, met Tuesday over breakfast to discuss a possible joint strike. Among the topics, Pollitt said: when to “pull the plug” and walk off the job.

Late in the afternoon, SEPTA said it had reached a similar agreement with SMART Local 1594. Smaller TWU locals representing workers in the suburbs will receive the same deal as the bigger local.

Pollitt acknowledged he was in touch with leaders of the allied unions Wednesday morning to let them know a tentative agreement had been reached. “I called each individual and let them know what happened, and they said congratulations,” Pollitt said.

Last week, the transit agency proposed a historically large across-the-board fare increase that would have riders paying 29% more than currently, beginning on New Year’s Day. Officials also outlined a plan for deep service cuts to take effect next July.

Those 20% cuts would close some routes, shorten others, and reduce the frequency of buses, trolleys, subway and El trains, and Regional Rail trains. Officials said the combination of fare hikes and service reductions risks triggering a decline in ridership.

Sauer said the proposals are moving forward and SEPTA has received no “assurances” from Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, that stopgap funding is on the way. “There’s been no promise made, no guarantee coming.”

News of SEPTA’s plans brought calls from transit advocates and Philadelphia political leaders for Shapiro and the state legislature to act. State Senate Republicans have blocked the governor’s proposal to raise $1.5 billion over five years for transit operations by allocating more sales tax revenue to the Public Transportation Trust Fund. SEPTA would receive about $160 million annually under that plan.

Union members said they’ve yet to see ballistic vests, bulletproof compartments, or shields for bus and trolley operators, and other safety changes SEPTA pledged to work on during last year’s contract negotiations.

SEPTA is known as one of the most strike-prone large transit systems in the country. Since 1975, SEPTA unions have walked off the job at least 12 times. Last year, SEPTA police officers struck for three days in December after working without a contract for nine months.

TWU last walked off the job for six days in 2016, with retirement benefits at the top of the list of issues. SEPTA’s contribution to the union’s workers retirement accounts did not rise in tandem with wages when they made more than $50,000. Agency contributions were not capped for managers.

» READ MORE: A history of SEPTA strikes

Negotiations with TWU nearly went to the brink last year, but a settlement was reached in late October that gave members 7% raises across the board and shortened the time needed to reach the top of the scale. They also got $3,000 retention bonuses.