SEPTA police union cites ‘disconnect' as strike looms

After working for months without a contract, the union that represents SEPTA's police force may go on strike if it can't come to a contract agreement with the mass transit provider.

Negotiations between the Fraternal Order of Transit Police Lodge 109 and SEPTA continued on Tuesday with no deal reached. The plan is to go back to the bargaining table on Wednesday.

Both parties bargained for hours but didn't make enough progress to close a deal and rule out a strike.

The FOTP Vice President Troy Parham said the officers are done talking, they want to strike but are holding off for another night.

“I don’t know how much longer we can do this if your official stance is there’s no more money. Where do we go from there?" Parham said.

SEPTA presented the FOTP with a new offer on Tuesday, but the union rejected the offer.

“SEPTA’s executives talk a good game about ‘pattern bargaining’ and they told us to wait until they wrapped up negotiations with the largest transit union, TWU Local 234, but since the conclusion of the TWU talks they have steadfastly refused to offer parity,” said FOTP President Omari Bervine, who is a SEPTA patrol officer in a statement. “We haven’t seen a proposal with comparable dollars, improvements in benefits or timing of raises.”

“There's other financial things in there for TWU that they're not offering us…I can’t sell that to my members," Parham said about the negotiations on Tuesday.

The union authorized a strike in October after its contract expired in March.

The FOTP were prepared to go on strike by midnight on Monday but SEPTA released a statement Monday night that said:

"SEPTA and FOTP leadership had a productive dialogue during meetings today. We are happy that union leadership will allow our officers to remain on the job, ensuring the safety and security of our customers and employees, while we work to make further progress at the bargaining table tomorrow. Our goal is to reach a fair contract without a strike, and we look forward to tomorrow's negotiating session."

SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch reiterated that negotiators want to avert a strike but have to stay within the agency's shrinking budget.

"We never want to go on strike but it's never off the table, if that's the only fighting tool that we have we'll use it," Parham said. "You can't tell us you have no money when the biggest union that you have, you just gave lots of it."

Both SEPTA and the FOTP mentioned talking through the holiday weekend if needed to get a contract done.

Riders hope a deal is reached soon.

“We definitely need them. We actually need more, I feel like," Shanaa Brown, a SEPTA rider said.

A 'disconnect' between the union and SEPTA

In a statement to NBC10 at that time, union president Bervine said that the union -- which represents about 200 SEPTA officers -- has been negotiating with SEPTA with 'little traction.'

"We have been trying to negotiate a successor agreement for the past 6 months with very little traction; hence the strike vote," Bervine wrote.

Early Monday evening, Parham told NBC10's Leah Uko that a new offer was on the table.

"There is a new offer on the table," Parham said. "We're not sure what the specifics of the offer is. We're heading back to the table to see what they're offering."

Parham also said the union is willing to negotiate throughout the year as long as negotiations are going well.

"As long as we're moving," he said. "But everybody's on standby. If they start going bad, then we're back to where we are right now."

According to a statement from SEPTA officials, negotiations are ongoing and an offer that would see wage increases of 13-percent over three years has been made to the union.

"We urge union leadership to return to the bargaining table, and allow police officers to remain on the job while we work out a new agreement. There is an offer on the table from SEPTA that includes wage increases of 13% over three years, which is consistent with our contract agreements with other unions representing SEPTA frontline workers. The police contract would also include a $3,000 signing bonus for officers, although that is contingent on there not being a strike. There is also an additional $2,500 retention bonus for officers who are eligible for retirement, and it maintains generous health and retirement benefits," a statement from SEPTA read.

However, in a statement of his own, in response to SEPTA's comments, Bervine said that there seems to be a "disconnect" in the terms of an agreement that SEPTA officials are claiming to offer publicly, while behind closed doors, those terms aren't what are on the table.

"After conferring with our Union’s Executive Board and seeing the statement from SEPTA that was sent to our officers by SEPTA General Manager Leslie Richards this evening, we feel that it is imperative that she meet with us directly as there seems to be a disconnect in terms of what she is saying is being offered and what is actually being offered at the table," Bervine said in a statement. "We believe that her direct involvement will be crucial in helping us to achieve our goal of resolving our contract dispute without any disruption or work stoppage."

If a deal cannot be reached, SEPTA said that there is a contingency plan in pace that would "ensure safe and secure travel on the system."

"This would include patrols on SEPTA by [Philadelphia Police Department], State Police and other police departments. We hope we will not need to enact these plans, but will be ready if needed," SEPTA said in a statement.

In the Northeast and across the nation, police departments are reporting severe problems with recruitment and retention of officers. SEPTA’s transit police are paid considerably lower than police at Amtrak, Temple University or police officers employed by the county. Many of SEPTA’s patrol officers have recently left to seek higher paying jobs at those public agencies and elsewhere, the union said in a statement.

“We are approximately 25 percent below our budgeted head count from years past,” said Bervine. “This is due, in large part, to our inability to retain staff who routinely leave our department to take positions with other police departments in the area that are offering more competitive wages and better benefits and working conditions.”

The potential strike comes as SEPTA officers responded to a shooting before 11 p.m. on Sunday night on a SEPTA platform.

According to SEPTA police officials, four shots were fired on the SEPTA platform at 15th and Market streets and, responding officers found a "group of juveniles" at that location, though no arrests were initially made.

Later, Monday evening, SEPTA officials said that police did make an arrest in this incident and a gun was recovered.

Not the only potential strike

Compounding Monday's negotiations, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, a union that represents about 160 train engineers at SEPTA, announced that voting members have unanimously authorized a strike.

This union claims pay for SEPTA's engineers and conductors "is about 20 percent below their nearest peers" leading to a staff shortage that has caused service disruptions.

"The compensation offered on this property is not competitive," BLET National President Eddie Hall said, in a statement when the strike vote was authorized. “The low wages have driven engineers away at a rapid pace, leading to severe manpower shortages.”

The BLET argued that it has been in negotiations with SEPTA since March of last year to negotiate a new contract.

The union has not announced when a strike might occur. However, Monday's vote results will permit union officials to set a strike date and remove members from service.

Monday afternoon, SEPTA responded to BLET's strike authorization in a statement.

“SEPTA continues to work through the federal mediation process on contracts for Regional Rail engineers and conductors," a SEPTA spokesperson wrote. "We have made a contract offer that would provide raises for employees, consistent with contracts that the majority of our unionized workforce have received. We are committed to negotiating in good faith in an effort to reach an agreement for our engineers and conductors.”

SEPTA recently reached a deal with Transit Workers Union Local 234, the union that represents 5,000 Philadelphia-area transit workers.