SEPTA, train-crew unions dispute work rules

SEPTA managers and Regional Rail workers differed sharply Tuesday on the possible safety effects if SEPTA is permitted to avoid requirements of a federal rule designed to limit fatigue.

SEPTA wants the Federal Railroad Administration to renew a waiver that the transit agency has had from the work rule for two years.

At an FRA public hearing in Delaware County on Tuesday, engineers and conductors argued that a waiver would endanger passengers by forcing train crews to work with too little rest.

Engineers said they had been called to work on short notice after just putting in 12-hour days.

Tracie Hand, an engineer, said in one instance she was called at 8:30 p.m. to operate an overnight work train, starting at 11 p.m. She had been up since 3 a.m. operating another route, she said.

"There's a great chance of fatigue," she said.

SEPTA said that since the waiver was granted in October 2012, "no safety issues have been noted where the waiver or engineer fatigue was a factor."

John F. Lauser, SEPTA's senior director of rail transportation, said the existing waiver is "fatigue-neutral."

SEPTA officials said the waiver gives the agency the flexibility it needs to schedule crews to work out of several locations, instead of just one, saving money and manpower.

Lauser said SEPTA is trying to reduce the number of engineers required to work six days a week by training more operators. The current training class of 18 engineers is SEPTA's largest ever, he said.

Paul Pokrowka, of the union that represents 380 SEPTA conductors and other workers, said continuing the waiver "would place riders in harm's way."

"This is a crew-scheduling issue and in no way justifies a waiver," said Pokrowka, state legislative director of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail & Transportation Workers (formerly the United Transportation Union) Local 61.

None of SEPTA's 200 engineers works a 40-hour week. Most work six-day weeks, with the typical engineer working about 67 hours per week. The Federal Railroad Administration requires two days off every 14 days.

The federal rule in dispute involves the time employees spend traveling from home to start work somewhere other than their usual assigned location.

The rule requires that time to be counted as paid work time; the waiver has allowed SEPTA to reduce some engineers' paid hours and keep them from exceeding work-hour limits.

"SEPTA estimates one additional crew costs approximately $150,000 annually, so even one new employee could cost SEPTA hundreds of thousands of dollars in labor expenses in a relatively short period of time," SEPTA said in its written request for the waiver extension.

SEPTA needs 213 engineers to be fully staffed, but typically operates with between 192 and 200. Because of retirements and other attrition, SEPTA is losing about one engineer per month.

If SEPTA were able to operate with 213 engineers, it could reduce the number of six-day runs from 72 percent of the total to 40 percent, said Ronald Hopkins, SEPTA assistant general manager of operations.

Stephen Bruno, of the engineers' union, said the union had not objected in 2012 when SEPTA requested the waiver. After two years, though, Bruno said it was not working.

"The experiment is a failed experiment," said Bruno, national secretary-treasurer of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.

The FRA is likely to make a decision on SEPTA's waiver request by June or July, said Ron Hynes, the FRA's safety officer who conducted Tuesday's hearing.

Source: Philly.com