President Barack Obama on Saturday forced union workers in
Philadelphia's commuter rail strike to return to the job, granting Pennsylvania
Gov. Tom Corbett's request to create a presidential emergency board to mediate
the contract dispute.
Obama ordered the establishment of the three-member board
effective at 12:01 a.m. Sunday. He called for "a swift and smooth
resolution" of the dispute between the Southeast Pennsylvania Transportation
Authority and its engineers and electricians unions.
Workers will have to return to the job when the board goes
into effect after midnight, however SEPTA said rail service wouldn't be up and
running until around 6 a.m. Sunday. They don't have to resume direct talks with
each other, but they do have to participate with the board's process, which
typically involves written submissions and hearings.
Obama is giving the board 30 days to deliver a report
recommending how the dispute should be resolved.
More than 400 workers went on strike at midnight Saturday.
"As long as these workers show up for their regularly
scheduled Sunday shifts, Regional Rail service will restored to full Sunday
operations in the morning, starting with the first scheduled service trains
runs on all of our 13 commuter rail lines," said SEPTA spokeswoman Jerri
Williams. First trains on Sundays start running at around 6 a.m., she said.
Stephen Bruno, vice president of the Brotherhood of
Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, said his union's members will comply with
the order and be back on duty at 12:01 a.m.
The move shut down train lines that carry commuters from
Philadelphia to the suburbs, Philadelphia International Airport and New Jersey.
The agency's subways, trolleys and buses continued to run.
Terry Gallagher, president and local chairman of the
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said the presidential
intervention was "what we were waiting for."
"We have been five years without an agreement, trying
to get to this point and we're happy we're here now," he said. Gallagher
said employees will be notified to report to their next scheduled shifts.
"The people of Philadelphia and the surrounding region
expect and deserve a safe and efficient rail system to get them to work,
medical appointments, school and recreation," Corbett, a Republican, said
in a statement. "I call on both parties to work together, find common
ground and place the riders at the forefront of mind in their
discussions."
The unions said the strike was designed to force SEPTA to
agree to their demands or accept binding arbitration. Workers are seeking
raises of at least 14.5 percent over five years — or about 3 percentage points
more than SEPTA has offered.
"My head's going to hurt by the end of this day,"
said volunteer Rusty Schwendeman of the Traveler's Aid Society, who had helped
reroute about two dozen rail travelers Saturday morning at 30th Street Station.
They often involved several connections, longer routes or a
significantly higher fare on Amtrak.
Carolyn Tola, of Hamilton Square, New Jersey, and three
friends paid $40 apiece to take Amtrak from central New Jersey to Philadelphia
to see the Pennsylvania Ballet instead of $9 on Septa.
"We're here," Tola said, noting that the ballet
tickets were nonrefundable. "We're going to relax and enjoy it."
The strike began after negotiations between the transit
agency and two unions failed to reach a new contract deal Friday. The last
regional rail strike, in 1983, lasted more than three months.
The labor conflict came to a head this week after SEPTA
announced it would impose a deal beginning Sunday. Terms include raising
electrical workers' pay immediately by an average of about $3 per hour; the top
wage rate for locomotive engineers would rise by $2.64 per hour.
The strike added to the commuting headaches in the region,
where major construction projects are making it more difficult than usual to
get around.
Drexel University dance team members Beverly and Angela
Tomita, 18-year-old twins, had planned to take the airport line for a 2 p.m.
flight home to Laguna Beach, California, for the summer.
"That's so not convenient!" Angela Tomita said
when she found the region rail entrance closed at 30th Street Station.
Schwendeman soon directed them to a subway-and-bus route.
"They're not the best answers, but they're the best
answers I can come up with," Schwendeman told another teenager about her
three-bus route home to suburban Blue Bell. "I don't want to send anybody
to the middle of nowhere, either."
Source: NewsWorks
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