SEPTA strike catches commuters off guard
Nov. 3--Hundreds of thousands of commuters scrambled this morning to find a way to work or school after SEPTA's largest union staged a surprise predawn strike, shutting down all subway, bus and trolley service in the city.
The walkout by Transport Workers Union Local 243, which began at 3 a.m. and caught commuters off guard, also affected Frontier Division buses in Bucks, Montgomery, and Chester counties.
But Regional Rail, Paratransit and other services outside the city continued to run.
Many subway and bus riders turned to passenger Regional Rail trains, some of which were crowded and running up to 30 minutes late during the morning rush hour.
With Philadelphia Public School students off today for a teachers' in-service, the city should be spared the full impact of the strike until tomorrow.
Still traffic appeared to be heavier than usual throughout the city as workers and parents of Catholic School students took to cars. On Broad Street in North Philadelphia, which is usually served by the subway, cars were bumper to bumper into Center City.
Not far from City Hall, police officers were posted at key intersections to deal with the extra flow of traffic from the nearby Vine Street Expressway.
In response to the strike, the Philadelphia Parking Authority lifted regulations barring shared rides in taxis and gave the go ahead for limousines, partial rights cabs and county cabs to provide service in the city.
As the first glimmer of dawn broke this morning, striking SEPTA workers huddled in small clusters around the Frankford Transportation Center as would-be passengers continued to arrive with no idea that nothing was operating.
Colleen Logan, 45, showed up at 5:20 a.m. to discover that she would not be able to ride the Market-Frankford El to her job as a waitress at Snow White Restaurant in Old City.
"Yesterday it was supposed to be done and over with," Logan said. "Nobody really had a clue."
The affected lines average more than 928,000 trips every weekday in the city, meaning that more than 450,000 people face finding alternate routes.
The walkout even caught some members of the striking union unaware.
Sly Wagner, a train operator for 17 years, showed up at the Fern Rock station ready to go to work.
"I'm like everybody else," he said. "The only way I found out was when I went to the station and the gates were locked."
Gov. Rendell called the decision to strike before dawn "irresponsible."
"This is an outrageous action," said Mayor Nutter, who joined Rendell last night to address reporters in the lobby of the Park Hyatt at the Bellevue, where negotiations had been under way since 10 a.m. yesterday.
In the end, it was a difference over wages that sparked the walkout. Earlier Monday, transit officials disclosed that both sides had reached a tentative agreement on health care and were reportedly close on wages.
"Nobody wants to leave something on the table," U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, who had been involved in the negotiations since last week, said during yesterday evening's break.
But union president Willie Brown, in a telephone interview, painted a different picture early today.
"They wouldn't provide the proper numbers" during negotiations, Brown said. "When it comes right down to it, they've underfunded our pension for years."
Rendell said the union chose to walk away from an "excellent" contract offer that includes 11 percent in wage increases over five years, and 11 percent increase in pension contributions, and no increases in workers' contribution for health care.
"Think about that," Rendell said. "Whose pension has been increased in this day and age?"
According to TWU officials, SEPTA management has proposed no wage increase for the first two years of a four-year contract and a 2 percent increase in each of the final two years. It also wanted to increase worker contributions to health coverage from 1 percent to 4 percent and freeze the level of pension benefits.
The union wants a 4 percent raise each year and health contributions to remain 1 percent. It is also seeking an increase in pension contributions from $75 to $100 for every year of service.
The TWU also is seeking changes in subcontracting and training provisions to allow members to do maintenance and repair work on buses and trolleys now done by outside contractors.
SEPTA's 5,100 unionized bus drivers, subway and trolley operators earn from $14.54 to $24.24 an hour, reaching the top rate after four years. Mechanics earn $14.40 to $27.59 an hour.
The last strike happened in 2005 and lasted seven days. It finally ended after Brady got involved.
------
Staff Writer Walter Naedele contributed to this report
-----
To see more of The Philadelphia Inquirer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.philly.com/inquirer.
Copyright (c) 2009, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
A service of YellowBrix, Inc.
