Transportation Workers Union (TWU) Local 234 on Dec. 9 reported ratifying a new one-year contract with Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). The union, the transit agency’s largest, represents more than 5,300 bus, trolley, and subway workers in the City, Suburban and Frontier divisions.
TWU said the deal includes a 5% pay raise and safety improvements, including “bulletproof enclosures on buses to protect bus operators, upgrades to radios, and fixes to allow uninterrupted communication in tunnels.”
Union members had been working under a previous one-year contract that expired midnight on Nov. 7. While TWU on Oct. 27 voted to authorize a strike, the union and SEPTA continued negotiations and all transit agency services operated on normal schedules.
SEPTA on Nov. 20 announced a tentative contract agreement had been reached.
The now ratified agreement took effect Dec. 8 and is retroactive to Nov. 8, 2024; it expires Nov. 7, 2025, according to TWU.
“The contract we just ratified will put more money in our members’ pockets and will improve safety and security for workers and passengers,” TWU Local 234 President Brian Pollitt said.
“SEPTA’s frontline employees keep the system running every day, and it was important to get a fair contract in place so that we can continue to get students to school and people to work, medical appointments, and other services that they need,” said SEPTA’s Scott Sauer when the tentative agreement was announced last month. Sauer on Nov. 29 became Interim General Manager at SEPTA, when Leslie S. Richards stepped down from the role.
According to SEPTA, its “unprecedented fiscal crisis has made these [labor] negotiations particularly challenging.” The transit agency explained last month that “[l]ike many other transit agencies across the nation, SEPTA has hit a fiscal cliff as a result of the pandemic. One-time federal COVID relief funds were used to help cover the everyday expenses of running the system—maintaining service during the pandemic and supporting the post-pandemic recovery. Those funds were exhausted this past spring, creating a near quarter billion-dollar annual budget deficit in the current fiscal year and beyond. A funding solution for public transportation statewide proposed by [Pennsylvania] Gov. [Josh] Shapiro earlier this year was not approved by the Legislature before it adjourned for the year last week [week of Nov. 10]. In addition to previously announced fare increase proposals and possible service cuts next year, SEPTA is now pursuing a number of austerity measures to cut costs. This will include expanding an existing hiring freeze to include all open management and administrative positions that are not safety- or operations-critical and reducing contract and consulting services. Additional cost-cutting measures are being examined and will be put in place before the end of December. With this uncertainty looming, it was critical to get a contract in place that keeps service running, especially as ridership continues to grow. In October, SEPTA reached a new post-pandemic high, with ridership exceeding 80% of pre-COVID levels.”
In other labor-related news, SEPTA has also been negotiating with SMART-Transportation Division (TD) Local 1594, which represents a separate group of roughly 350 Suburban Division bus and trolley operators.
The union on Nov. 20 reported reaching a tentative agreement, including a 5% General Wage Increase. SEPTA will also install “bulletproof glass full enclosures around operators’ workstations on eight buses as part of a pilot project,” according to the union, which noted that there is a “commitment to extend these installations to more buses, based on feedback from operators.”
The tentative agreement is subject to ratification by the union membership.
“I’m proud of the leadership at Local 1594 for staying strong and staying focused throughout this process,” said Anthony Petty, General Chairperson and SMART-TD Alternate Vice President of the Bus Department, who led the negotiations for Local 1594. “I want to take a moment to thank the leadership of TWU Local 234 and their President Brian Pollitt. We couldn’t have reached this agreement without their tireless effort and solidarity. Together, we fought for the safety and dignity of our members, and today we’re seeing the results of that work.”
