SEPTA reaches tentative agreement with engineers

A tentative agreement was reached this week to avoid a SEPTA regional rail strike.

However, the transit authority has yet to reach a compromise with the 5,000-member Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 234, which operates city transit routes.

The announcement of the tentative agreement came on Monday. The five-year proposal is retroactive to 2010 and will expire next July.

“At this point we do have a tentative agreement with the union and it’s going to take about a week for them to present the proposal to their membership and respond to us,” said Jerri Williams, a SEPTA spokeswoman. “But the chairman has received authorization from the board to approve the contract and sign off on the deal once the union approves.”

Williams said based on the pattern bargaining established by the TWU, major provisions of the contract provide regional rail employees will receive a $1,250 lump sum signing bonus and compensation that includes an 11.5 percent wage increase — 8.5 percent immediately upon contract ratification and an additional 3 percent in April 2015.

The tentative contract deal ends a five-year dispute with the engineers and other rail workers. The dispute touched off a one-day work stoppage in June and prompted President Barack Obama to issue an executive order establishing federal mediation to force both sides back to the bargaining table. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen represents 200 rail engineers at SEPTA.

“This agreement keeps the trains rolling in Philadelphia,” said Steve Bruno, the union’s national vice president. “SEPTA has finally come to terms with the recommendations of the Presidential Emergency Board. It is unfortunate that SEPTA’s intransigence has held this settlement up for far too long. The union has offered and management has accepted a compromise on economic issues to make this deal work. However, we still have critical safety concerns related to fatigue caused by long hours and inadequate training for new engineers.

“We will now seek resolution through federal regulators and public hearings rather than through collective bargaining with SEPTA.”

Bruno said safety issues have been a growing concern of the union membership and recent close calls have brought the problem to a critical point.

“The union will not compromise on the public’s safety,” he said.

On Tuesday talks between the trolley, subway and bus employees of local 234 resumed with two days of negotiations being scheduled.

“The previous contract offer has expired,” Williams said. “That offer had a 2-percent increase the first year and a 3-percent increase the second year, and there were no changes in pension benefits — which was a sticking point. New hires would have received the same pension benefits as current employees and we were asking for an additional 1 percent toward health insurance.”

A local 234 strike would halt all city bus and trolley lines, the Market-Frankford and Broad Street rail lines and the Norristown High Speed line, and some bus routes into Bucks and Montgomery counties would be shut down. The Regional Rail lines would continue to operate. The last strike occurred suddenly in 2009.

Source:  The Philadelphia Tribune