SEPTA, locomotive union reach tentative contract agreement

SEPTA has reached a tentative contract agreement with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, the union has reported. A SEPTA spokeswoman said it was too early to confirm a deal.

Although the union is calling it a five-year deal, it only covers the workers until July 2015. The union had been working without a contract since 2009. Its workers will get a 13.32 percent pay raise, their first increase in five years. They did not get retroactive pay.

The union had fought to get next year's increases to be effective in April 2015 and won that battle in the negotiations, it reported.

The union held a one-day strike in June alongside the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, but were forced back on the job for 120 days by the Presidential Emergency Board. They were likely to face another PEB that would have inhibited the union's ability to strike until February 2015.

“This agreement keeps the trains rolling in Philadelphia,” said Steve Bruno, national vice president of BLET the union.

Safety Still a Concern

Just last week, Bruno complained that SEPTA wasn't addressing pressing safety issues regarding its regional rail trains which generally take riders from the suburbs or city outskirts to Center City. He said the transit authority's "inability to address turnover with proper training and staffing" has led to workers being fatigued due to a 14-hour work days, six day weeks. Those issues are not addressed in the new contract and are likely to be a sticking point going forward.

In a statement Monday, Bruno remained steadfast on the safety issue.

"We still have critical safety concerns related to fatigue caused by long hours and inadequate training for new engineers," he said. "We will now seek resolution through federal regulators and public hearings rather than through collective bargaining with SEPTA.”

The union claims that many engineers have left SEPTA for higher paying jobs at Amtrak or other rail companies.

SEPTA still has "real possibility" of strike

SEPTA still has to strike a deal with the TWU Local 234 union, which is in charge of many of the transit authority's bus and subway workers. Its president Willie Brown said last week that if

SEPTA management doesn't budge on pensions during this week's negotiations, there's a "real possibility" of a strike.

TWU, SEPTA's largest union, has been working without a contract since March. The two sides are set to meet Oct 14-16.

"With us, it’s not a question of if we strike it’s a question of when we strike," Brown said last week. "That’s how far apart we are."

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal