Transport Workers Union Local 234 has voted to authorize a strike. The vote gives SEPTA 10 days to reach a deal with the union or workers could walk off the job. NBC10’s Brian Sheehan spoke with the union president about what the workers are pushing for.
SEPTA workers in the Transport Workers Union Local 234 -- which represents more than 5,300 employees -- announced on Sunday morning that it has authorized a strike, unless they can reach a deal with management by midnight on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024.
In a statement released around lunchtime on Sunday, union officials said that a "large gathering" of workers met for a special meeting and all in attendance voted to authorize the strike.
“Yesterday, many of us gathered at Midvale Depot to honor the one-year anniversary of the murder of Bernard Gribben," said TWU President Brian Pollitt, who heads the union’s negotiating committee said, "Because too little has changed in the year since his untimely death, I have been forced to gather us here today to ask you to give me the authority to call a strike, if the Executive Board deems it necessary to achieve our objectives.”
Gribbin, a SEPTA bus driver, was killed on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023, after being shot six times by a woman shortly after she stepped off Route 23 in the city's Germantown neighborhood.
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In explaining the motivations for the strike vote, union officials noted that it has been a year since this deadly incident and "despite the ongoing threat to frontline workers, SEPTA management has stonewalled the union’s proposals for supplying bulletproof vests and shields, more cameras and additional law enforcement in the subway, along with a functioning radio system so SEPTA workers can alert the authorities to dangerous incidents."
“We’re not asking for the moon.” Pollitt said in a statement. “Just what every person deserves – safety and security and economic justice.”
Union officials said they are also requesting a "a wage increase to keep pace with rising costs and a Financial Incentive Retention Program that would allow retirement eligible members to bank their pension checks in an interest-bearing account while they continue to work for the Authority, in addition to the proposed safety and security improvements."
Union officials said any strike wouldn't take place until after the upcoming presidential election, but warned that anyone planning to use public transit after midnight on Thursday, Nov. 7, should be prepared for some service interruptions.
“SEPTA must negotiate in good faith so we can get a deal by the deadline. Make no mistake, while a strike would not happen before or on Election Day, if there’s no agreement by midnight on November 7, our members will not report to work and SEPTA will not be able to provide transit service,” said Pollitt in a statement. “Anyone using public transit late that evening – or anytime the following week – should be aware that SEPTA management is creating this risk by failing to address our safety concerns and other matters.”
Late last year, SEPTA workers avoided a strike after working on a tentative one-year agreement.
In a statement released in reaction to the vote, SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch said that the mass transit provider is working on an agreement, but SEPTA's ongoing funding crisis has been a "major factor" in the ongoing negotiations.
"SEPTA is in ongoing talks with TWU Local 234 regarding a new contract. We are committed to engaging in good-faith negotiations, with the goal of reaching an agreement that is fair to our hard-working employees and to the customers and taxpayers who fund SEPTA," read a statement from Busch. "A major factor in these negotiations is SEPTA’s ongoing funding crisis. With the exhaustion of federal COVID relief funds earlier this year and ridership still recovering from the pandemic, SEPTA is facing an operating budget deficit of nearly a quarter billion dollars annually. We continue to work with the Gov. Shapiro and legislative leaders on sustainable, long-term funding, but at this point, there is no solution in sight. This stark reality impacts these negotiations, as well as SEPTA’s ability to provide critical transportation services throughout the Philadelphia region."
This is a breaking news story. It will be updated as new information becomes available.
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