Philadelphia Transit Workers Go on Strike

[Mojorabbit]

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Commuters who rely on the city's buses, subways and trolleys were forced to walk, hitch rides and take taxis to work Monday after thousands of city transit workers went on strike.

In a city where one in three households lacks a car, about 920,000 trips are taken on a typical weekday along the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority lines shut down by the strike.

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City preparations for the strike included setting up extra bicycle racks, deploying more officers at intersections, urging car pooling and allowing more parking. Some commuters, though, were frustrated.

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The union said its members have not had a raise since December 2003 and have fallen far behind the norm for employees of major transit agencies. SEPTA is the fifth-largest transit agency in the country but workers' wages rank 20th, according to Transport Workers Union president Jeff Brooks.

The last Philadelphia transit strike, in 1998, lasted 40 days.
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?feed=AP&Date=20051031&ID=5235118

[4MoreYearsOfHell]

1. Yikes! Good luck Philadelphians....

Transit strikes are nothing to be envied...

Let's see, are they trying to raise their insurance premiums and increasing their co-pay as well?

then God bless 'em, somebody's got to fight this...

[KamaAina]

2. Isn't this the fifth major transit strike in the last couple of years?

We started the fun here in spread-out Honolulu in '03, nearly costing me my coveted place in the cubicle as well as forcing one community college student we know of to walk twelve miles to class each way (not through the snow, obviously, but still...).

Minneapolis and Westchester County outside NYC had 'em, too, but the topper had to be in L.A. where there was a grocery strike going on at the same time, so if you wanted to support the grocery strikers by going to a chain they weren't picketing, you had no way to get there!

In principle, I'm all for unions, but the problem here is that they're striking against other workers (like me), often low-wage workers to boot. In L.A. people had to pay more for cab rides to their work than the job paid, just to hold on to the job. Quite a dliemma. Union-busting is a key element in the repuke master plan and must be opposed -- but at the cost of one's own job?

edit: italics, plus: So much for Philadelphians' plans to use less $3-a-gallon gasoline!

[obreaslan]

3. I live in the Phila. area, & I understand where you are coming from, but..

People need to understand what this strike is about. They are striking because, even though the employees already pay for a large portion of their health insurance premiums themselves (as per concessions made during the last strike), SEPTA (South-Eastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority) wants them to pay more. SEPTA is asking workers to give up maternity leave, some vacation time, earned and sick days and all weekly overtime. Some of these people are barely getting by as it is, meanwhile the higher-ups in the company are raking in huge salaries and aren't being asked to share some of the burden. They are asking that the weight of all the financial problems the company has should be placed on the back of the lowest paid people in the company. Bottom line, as with everything else in corporate america, the "little guy" is getting squeezed out while the CEOs and management continue on with out having to sacrifice.

If they have to shut down the city for a few days in order to get fair treatment, I say so be it. I will take the extra hit in the gas tank and the extra time to get home because of the traffic. If we give up this fight now, we will lose forever. All of us.

A lot of these problems could be easily solved if we had universal health-care.

More info here: http://www.twulocal234.com/index.html

[KamaAina]

4. Couldn't transit workers be treated like police and firefighters?

that is, as essential workers, so that they remain union-organized but their labor disputes are resolved by alternative methods such as arbitration, rather than by crippling strikes such as this one.

SEPTA is asking workers to give up maternity leave, some vacation time, earned and sick days and all weekly overtime. :puke:

Yeesh! Our operator O'ahu Transit Services was only offering a wage freeze, and they got struck. Egads! Sounds like Rendell needs to get involved pronto.

[drm604]

5. Why do I keep hearing that they've been paying nothing for their premiums?

I live in the Philly area (and commute into the city every day) and all I hear everywhere is that they've been paying nothing towards their premiums and that SEPTA wants them to start paying 5% of it (which doesn't seem unreasonable, most people pay something - even employees of Blue Cross!).

The union certainly hasn't been silent - they have a media campaign to try to win over public opinion - yet your post is the first time I've heard anyone claim that they currently pay something towards their premiums. I can't find anything in your link that claims that. Where are you getting your information? I'm not saying that I disbelieve you, but I'm a little confused.

I left work 1/2 hour early today and then stood in line for 1/2 hour in order to get the train home. I'm lucky in that I use the regional rail, which isn't on strike. It's still impacted somewhat, but not enough that it's a major hardship for me. but other people are suffering some real hardships. I want to see this thing settled fairly and equitably for everyone but it needs to be settled soon. And if the argument really is about whether they should start paying a small portion of their premiums, then maybe they need to realize that nearly everyone else already pays something and that they'll have to accept that like the rest of us.

Please note that I am NOT anti-union (I'd love to see them get into WalMart), but that doesn't mean that I think that they should always get everything they want. Healthcare costs are a major burden on everyone and everything in this country. We need single-payer universal healthcare. But until that happens (and I'm not holding my breath) it's a problem that we ALL have to deal with.

[obreaslan]

6. I'm sorry, I did leave out info....

The SEPTA workers have to pay for the first two and a half years for their health-care. This was part of the last agreement along with not getting any pay raises for the last few years. They also pay a co-pay on doctors visits and a co-pay on prescriptions. Meanwhile the upper management has 100% of their health-care paid for.

According to the link below, in the SEPTA’s Contract Demands section, "SEPTA is demanding that members pay 20% of the medical insurance premium AND SEPTA proposes to reduce our health benefits by 20%. SEPTA demands that we pay more for less coverage. It amounts to a 40 percent cut."

There is more info at this link: http://www.twulocal234.com/newsletter.html

I understand how much of a hardship it is for most people in the region. Especially for the poor in this city who rely on SEPTA to get to their jobs or to school. I feel for them. Hopefully the situation can be resolved quickly.

[drm604]

7. My understanding is that they've offered to reduce that 20% to 5%

but maybe it's more complicated than that. Co-pays are common and expected, practically everyone has them, although I agree that management should have the same plan as everyone else. Management should have to make concessions along with everyone else.

Public transport is one of the few places left where unions still have real power in this country, it can't be outsourced. Since SEPTA is not a profit making corporation any increases in costs get passed to the taxpayers and ticket holders, most of whom have no place else to pass on those costs. So we end up with the few who still have any real organizing power passing on costs to the struggling masses who don't. I'm not speaking for myself, I'm relatively fortunate and I can handle a modest increase in fares if necessary. But a lot of low wage people use public transport and have no real alternative. I don't know what the answer is. Like so many things in this country right now, there doesn't seem to be an easy answer.