SEPTA and its largest union reached a tentative two-year contract agreement on Monday, averting a strike that threatened transit service for hundreds of thousands of riders across the region.
Transport Workers Union Local 234, which represents about 5,000 bus, trolley, and subway operators and maintenance employees, said its executive board voted Monday morning to recommend the deal and send it to members for ratification. A vote is expected later this month. The previous contract expired Nov. 7.
Union leaders credited last-minute intervention by Gov. Josh Shapiro for breaking a stalemate at the bargaining table.
“I am very pleased that we were able to settle without a strike," said TWU Local 234 President Will Vera. "Our members had worked without a contract for the past month. Patience was growing thin and management seemed unhurried."
“The Governor and his people got key people from both sides in the same room last night, stopped the run-around, got promises from both sides and we reached a deal," Vera added. "Without the governor’s intervention we would have been on strike this morning.”
The tentative agreement includes 3.5% across-the-board wage increases in each of the two years, pension improvements, higher night-shift differential pay — unchanged since 1995 — and boosts to clothing and tool allowances. It also accelerates access to vision and dental benefits for new employees, reducing the waiting period from 15 months to 90 days.
Union leaders said the deal strengthens SEPTA’s ability to retain current workers and recruit new ones amid ongoing workforce shortages.
“The improvements made will not only keep TWU members here for the long term, it also will make a SEPTA job attractive again," Vera said. "We want people to want to work here.”
