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Source: SEPTA, Transit Workers Union close to a deal

Talks seemed to be reaching a resolution last night as SEPTA executives joined negotiations.

SEPTA passengers board a 33 bus at the corner of JFK Boulevard and 15th Street in Philadelphia, Pa. on February 20, 2013. ( DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer )
SEPTA passengers board a 33 bus at the corner of JFK Boulevard and 15th Street in Philadelphia, Pa. on February 20, 2013. ( DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer )Read more

AFTER DEBATING FOR hours, SEPTA and its largest union reached a tentative agreement on a months-long contract dispute.

Sources close to the negotiations said the transit authority and Transport Workers Union Local 234 had signed a two-year labor contract late last night, avoiding a strike, though no further details were immediately available.

Late last night, several SEPTA executives, including General Manager Joseph Casey and board chairman Pasquale Deon, joined the proceedings, signaling positive progress.

The talks, started at 2 p.m. at the Wyndham Philadelphia Historic District Hotel on 4th Street near Arch in Old City, were also supported by a veritable who's-who of Philadelphia politicians, including several members of City Council.

State Rep. Bob Brady and state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, who helped bring the parties together, provided sporadic updates to reporters on the discussions, but declined to reveal any further details.

"There's a spirit of openness on both sides," Williams said as the talks dragged on.

"Nothing, to my knowledge, is causing to walk away from the table," he added, noting that pensions continued to be a major sticking point in the negotiations.

That outlook was a stark contrast to what TWU boss Willie Brown said Monday, when he noted that the divide between the two parties was as wide as "California and Pennsylvania."

Brown also said his nearly 5,000 members, who have been working without a contract since the spring, are ready to strike. A strike by the union would shut down the city's subway lines and trolley and bus routes, but Brown has promised to give 24 hours notice to the public in the event of a walkout.

The biggest hurdle in the current negotiations was the pension system.

Union members contribute 3.5 percent to their retirement benefits, Brown said, which is about three times as much as what those in managerial positions contribute.

"What we put in is what we should get out," Brown said at a news conference Monday. "Let's sit down and make this system equitable for everybody."

SEPTA previously has attributed the disparity to the higher salaries of those managers.