SEPTA’s largest labor union on Sunday voted to authorize a strike, setting up the possibility that workers could walk out next week and paralyze much of Philadelphia’s transit system.
The contract for Transport Workers Local 234’s City Transit Division expires at 11:59 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7. If no deal is reached by then, more than 4,300 employees are expected to walk off the job, halting service on the Market-Frankford and Broad Street Lines and all city bus and trolley routes.
Brian Pollitt, Local 234’s president, said securing safety improvements and increased pay will be key for any agreement.
“We’re open,” he said Sunday. “We’re going to continue to bargain fairly, in hopes that we don’t have to pull the plug and call a strike. And we’re open to around-the-clock negotiations if need be.”
Talks began in July, and both sides plan to meet again Monday at an Old City hotel, officials said.
Local 234 members – donning Eagles jerseys, union hoodies and SEPTA uniforms – filed into a South Philadelphia union hall for the vote, a procedural step that allows the organization’s leaders to call for picket lines. Union officials said the decision to authorize a work stoppage was unanimous.
The threat of a strike comes at a precarious moment for SEPTA, just a few days after General Manager and CEO Leslie Richards announced she would step down effective Nov. 29 and – more importantly for the contract negotiations – in the midst of a financial crisis.
SEPTA is facing a $153 million budget deficit, and that shortfall could rise to $240 million next fiscal year, absent additional funding from Harrisburg.
“This stark reality impacts these negotiations, as well as SEPTA’s ability to provide critical transportation services throughout the Philadelphia region,” the authority said in a statement Sunday.
Transit leaders had been hopeful that lawmakers and Gov. Josh Shapiro could resolve the issue this fall; however, authority officials said Sunday that there is “no solution in sight,” as the legislative terms winds down.
Richards has warned that the fiscal gap could lead to a “death spiral” of significant service cuts and steep fare hikes, potentially as soon as early 2025.
Expiring federal coronavirus relief funding and ridership numbers that remain below pre-pandemic numbers have created financial problems for SEPTA and other transit agencies across the country.
“If SEPTA wasn’t a company that could find money for things that they prioritize, they can find money for us,” Pollitt said about the budget deficit.
Pollitt noted that his members gathered Saturday to mark the one-year anniversary of the death of Bernard Gribbin, a bus operator who was shot while driving Route 23 in Germantown.
Local 234 wants SEPTA to install bulletproof shields inside buses; supply Kevlar vests to drivers; add cameras and law enforcement to vehicles; and fix radio dead zones so employees can alert authorities of emergencies, union representatives said.
Many of those enhancements are in the works outside of the contract process, SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch said.
“The funding situation jeopardizes a lot, but measures for safety and security are always going to be at the forefront in terms of getting priority for funding,” he added.
SEPTA published a report last week showing that serious crimes on transit have dropped by about a third compared to last year.
Union leaders are also pushing for salary increases and a program allowing members eligible for retirement to bank pension checks in interest-bearing accounts while they continue to work.
