SEPTA union walks off job

In a dramatic turnaround, leaders for the union representing 5,500 SEPTA workers announced that they would strike at 3 a.m. today.

They accused SEPTA of misrepresenting costs of the pension plan, saying that the transit agency was basing projections on historic legacies and was blaming the sour economy for allegedly selling its workers short.

"That's total hogwash," said SEPTA General Manager Joseph M. Casey said after talks broke down at the Park Hyatt at the Bellevue, where the two sides had been holed up all day in Gov. Rendell's 11th floor regional office.

Casey and Willie Brown, president of the Transport Workers Union Local 234, said that a trio of power players - Rendell, Mayor Nutter and U.S. Rep. Bob Brady - had done a great job ushering negotiations since becoming engaged on Friday.

But to Brown, what derailed the talks was the underfunded pension plan and the right for employees to pick the equipment they work on based on seniority.

"SEPTA has looted our pension plan and we cannot stand for that," said Brown. "They have the money."

"We tried to close the gap," he said. "We kept pulling things off the table. We agreed not to strike during the World Series. We took people to the game because we are professionals.

"Now it's time to reward us."

Rendell said he was "disappointed" that union leaders rejected what "would have been one of the best contracts given out in these economic times."

Rendell said that SEPTA offered a five-year contract with no raise in the first year, a 2.5 percent hike in the second year and 3 percent raises for each remaining year of the contract.

The offer also included a first-year $1,250 signing bonus and would increase payments to the pension from 5 percent to 11 percent, he said.

Union workers also would not have higher health-insurance payments, which Rendell called a "big win for the union."

Nutter said he was "totally outraged" that the union opted to strike in the middle of the night, when the citizens of the city are asleep and don't know that in the morning they will have no way to get to work

"To say that I'm disappointed is a gross understatement," he said. "This is an outrageous action. We worked at every possible way to make this work.

"The citizens are going to be outraged and angry."

As late as 11 p.m., SEPTA spokesman Richard Maloney said that the two sides were close to reaching an agreement.

Brown said that another issue had been what he said were racial and sexual discrimination for women to operate heavy equipment in the maintenance department and SEPTA's desire to end picking rights, which are a historical right of workers to pick the equipment they would work on based on seniority.

Casey said that those accusations were "absurd."

Two key issues had been worked out over the weekend after Rendell, Nutter and Brady became involved in negotiations.

The union had backed off an earlier threat to strike if an agreement wasn't reached by last Saturday, averting a possible disruption of service as thousands made their way to South Philadelphia for Game 3 of the World Series.

Also, SEPTA had wanted to increase employee contributions to health insurance from 1 percent to 4 percent, but SEPTA pulled that off the table.

Local 234 represents 5,500 workers, whose contracts expired in March and April.