While SEPTA had two more of its contracts with local unions
expire Tuesday, the region’s public transportation organization remains hopeful
that there won’t be a work stoppage.
The contract with the SEPTA Transport Workers Union Local
234 city division workers expired March 15, but talks are ongoing. On Tuesday,
the contracts for TWU Victory Division maintenance workers and the United
Transportation Union 1594 also expired.
“We have exchanged proposals with them,” SEPTA spokesperson
Jerri Williams said. “We’ve met and continue with good faith and fruitful
negotiations. As those talks continue, we like the TWU, are hoping to avoid a
work stoppage. As long as we continue talking, we think a work stoppage will be
avoided.”
Williams said the negotiations with the TWU Local 234 and
the UTU 1594 are being done separately.
According to SEPTA, the base salary for a TWU bus or trolley
operator is $33,887 and top of scale is $55,620. With overtime, the average
operator at top of scale makes $64,847.
SEPTA’s March 14 proposal to city division workers,
according to the TWU, included SEPTA offering a five-year contract with lump
sum payments of $500, but no raises, in the first and second year, followed by
bumps of 1 percent, 2 percent and 3 percent in years three, four and five.
It also eliminated pensions for new hires — placing them
instead into tax-deferred compensation plans — and required workers to up their
share of health care premiums from 1 to 2.5 percent over the life of the
agreement.
One SEPTA division that would not be affected by a strike is
regional rail. Under rules of the Federal Railroad Administration, which is
governed by the Railways Labor Act, members cannot strike until going through a
complicated mediation process.
Regional rail conductors of UTU Local 61, reached an
agreement with SEPTA last fall. The regional rail engineers’ contract expired
on July 14, 2010. Those engineers have been working under the old contract
since then.
Source: DELCO
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