Pennsylvania State Representative Kate Harper (R-Montgomery)
has re-introduced legislation that would add SEPTA employees to the list of
public employees like police and firefighters barred from walking off the job.
The legislation is,
predictably, opposed by SEPTA's largest union, which is making the case that if
the state annuls the right to strike, the Department of Labor could not sign
off on the federal funding SEPTA receives from the Federal Transit
Administration.
Representative Harper said Thursday that, "A SEPTA
strike would cripple southeastern Pennsylvania and it would prevent people from
getting to work and getting home again and snarl our roads in such a way that
we can't let them strike."
However, Transport Workers Union Local 234 argues that the
Federal Transit Act prevents changes to their existing bargaining rights.
Local President Willie Brown heads the largest of SEPTA's
unions, whose 4,700 members are currently on the job without a contract.
"I wonder, what are Representative Harper's, what are
her motives," he said Wednesday.
SEPTA spokeswoman Jerri Williams said the transit
authority's labor lawyers reviewed the text of the bill and spotted no problems
that would impact federal funding. Similar legislation was last introduced in
2009 but failed to make it out of legislative committee.
At this stage, the Department of Labor is declining to weigh
in.
A spokesman for the Department said that "The Federal
Transit Act does not prohibit any state from passing laws relating to transit
employees. Whether a state law impacts the worker protections provided for ...
is determined on a case by case basis as applications for federal transit
grants come to DOL for certification."
Spokesman for the House Republicans, Steve Miskin, said the
leadership plans to bring the bill up for a vote, noting that, "there is
wide interest in Rep. Harper's legislation."
Source: NewsWorks
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