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No settlement in SEPTA transit-police strike

SEPTA AND ITS striking police union returned to the bargaining table Thursday night, but after five hours of negotiations the transit agency ended the session without reaching a settlement.

SEPTA AND ITS striking police union returned to the bargaining table Thursday night, but after five hours of negotiations the transit agency ended the session without reaching a settlement.

The 219 unionized transit police want a 50-cent hourly raise for their mandatory recertification training, which would cost SEPTA $200,000 annually. SEPTA is offering 15 cents.

As the strike began its second full day Thursday afternoon, SEPTA's unionized transit police, who had rallied heartily at City Hall Station on Wednesday night, were invisible there. No pickets. No presence.

But behind the scenes, intermediaries for SEPTA and the Fraternal Order of Transit Police worked to get both sides back to the bargaining table.

All day long, a hastily assembled force of armed, uniformed SEPTA transit police supervisors, city cops and unarmed private security guards kept the peace on the bustling City Hall concourse and station platforms.

During the school-recess/rush-hour peak from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., three transit police supervisors and a city cop helped a female rider who was afraid of an abusive male acquaintance.

Shortly before 4 p.m., SEPTA shut down the Broad Street Line at City Hall Station as city police chased and caught a man who had thrown away his gun and fled on the tracks.

SEPTA, said spokeswoman Jerri Williams, was "waiting all day for the union to come back to the bargaining table." It did, but negotiations broke down at 9:15 p.m.