Philadelphia’s mass transit system has reached a tentative contract agreement with its largest labor union, averting a strike that could have seen thousands of workers walk off the job.
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and the Transport Workers Union Local 234 announced the one-year agreement Wednesday. Union members are calling for a 5% raise and an unspecified pension adjustment. The contract also contains language aimed at improving the personal safety of front-line workers, including installing bulletproof enclosures for drivers as many are exposed to violence and harassment.
Union President Brian Pollitt said the ratification vote will be held on December 6.
The agreement comes two weeks after union members voted to authorize a strike when their one-year contract with SEPTA expires on November 8. However, union leaders agreed to delay the strike as long as they felt progress was being made in negotiations. the table.
Local 234 has nearly 5,000 members, including bus, subway and trolley operators, mechanics, cashiers, maintenance people, and janitors.
Pollitt said Wednesday that avoiding a strike is a priority, noting that public transportation is a “necessary need” for many residents, including students who ride SEPTA trains and buses to school and workers who rely on the agency to get to their jobs.
“We got the right deal, and now we need to focus on making sure SEPTA stays strong for everyone who depends on it,” Pollitt said.
Scott Sauer, SEPTA’s interim general manager, said both sides worked hard to reach an agreement.
“This agreement is fair to our hardworking employees and fair to customers and taxpayers,” he said.
SEPTA, which has long said its financial health is precarious, recently proposed a 21.5% fare increase that would begin on New Year’s Day and severe service cuts that would begin next summer. The agency has scheduled a public hearing on December 13 regarding this plan.
If approved by the SEPTA board, riders would pay more than the interim rate for a proposed 7.5% fare increase the panel is due to consider later this month. If passed, it would go into effect on December 1. When both increases go into effect, the fares for city bus and subway rides will go from $2 to $2.90. SEPTA key fares, where riders get discounts for using a prepaid card to pay fares that now range from $3.75 to $6.50, depending on where they use it, will range from $5 to $8.75 by January 1, 2025.
SEPTA last raised fares in 2017, and the proposed increase is expected to bring in an additional $23 million this fiscal year and $45 million annually through 2026.
The sixth largest system in the nation, SEPTA is facing a $240 million annual budget shortfall as pandemic aid ends. It has lost about $161 million in federal aid since the Republican-controlled state Senate refused to vote on Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro’s proposal for $283 million in new state aid for public transportation. Instead, lawmakers approved a one-time payment to the state trust fund for transit systems, of which SEPTA received $46 million.
—By Bruce Shipkowski, Associated Press
Source link
