Community Corner

Union President: Odds of SEPTA Strike 'Very Good'

A strike would affect SEPTA bus, subway and trolley service.

The president of SEPTA's largest union isn't sugarcoating the situation.

"The odds of a strike are very good," Willie Brown, president of the Transit Workers Union Local 234, told NBC.

A contract between SEPTA and some 5,000 union employees expired at midnight March 15, and the threat of a strike loomed then. At the eleventh hour, union representatives issued a statement saying that even if the contract expired, workers would stay on the job.

Since then, a bill has been proposed in the state House of Representatives that would prevent SEPTA employees from striking in the future.

But the final three contracts between the TWU and SEPTA expire at midnight April 6, and the two sides remain divided, NBC said. Local lawmakers have suggested the two sides enter arbitration.

Brown told NBC that the TWU was willing to enter arbitration, but a SEPTA spokesman said, "It is not in the best interest of SEPTA, its employees, the union or the taxpayers for a third party -– with no vested interest in the day to day operations of the Authority -- to dictate the wages, benefits and working conditions of SEPTA’s workers."

A strike would affect SEPTA bus, subway and trolley service. Regional Rail would not be directly impacted, but it would likely be much more crowded as people use it as an alternative to other SEPTA services.

How would a SEPTA strike impact you?


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