Election set for SEPTA union boss

This Friday, Transport Workers Union Local 234 will vote on whether to re-elect current president Willie Brown to another term over the 5,000-member group that represents bus drivers and subway and trolley operators.

Brown is favored to win, despite his notoriety in 2009 as “The Most Hated Man in Philadelphia” — as one local publication dubbed him — after he led a strike against SEPTA on Election Day that year.

Brown has two challengers for his post.

One is Andre Jones Sr., an executive vice president at SEPTA, who began his career with the agency in 1990as a bus operator. He worked out of SEPTA’s Luzerne and Southern districts, where he served as section chairman, before being elected to his current position.

The other is Calvin Millwood, who is part of a slate of candidates whose website, weare234.com states, “For the past 25 years the same two teams of people have led our union rotating the leadership amongst themselves. We believe our Union will continue to grow weaker and nothing will change until we Clean House. We must elect a clean slate of people to lead our Union.”

Brown lost his post in 2010, and said he went back to operating the trolley. Of his “Most Hated” label, he now says, “I don’t buy into that and I don’t believe it.”

In a phone interview, he stated his belief that that workers should keep working, but also insisted he wants what is fair for workers.

The union presidency is one of about 14 spots up for grabs this year.

Also, the current contract between SEPTA and its union expires Oct. 31, as the agreement reached in 2014 covered two years. According to Brown, talks between the union and SEPTA began back in July.

Brown identified pensions as the biggest issue in upcoming negotiations.

“I think we pushed last time for pension reform,” he said of 2014 talks. “Before, we were putting in three times as much (as management), and they were getting three times as much out of it.

“We put SEPTA on notice, so that nobody could say they didn’t know,” Brown said of negotiations. “There will be no extension.

“If we are successful, we don’t have to keep being in this place every two to three years,” he added.

Source: Philadelphia Tribune