SEPTA’s largest union went on strike this morning, stopping bus, subway and trolley service on all routes.

Transport Workers Local 234, (approx. 5,000 operators and mechanics) walked out of negotiations at midnight on November 2, which according to SEPTA spokesman Richard Maloney, they left behind SEPTA’s offer of an 11.5%  pay increase over 5 years, an 11% increase in pension contributions by the end of the deal and a $1,250 signing bonus. The contract would be retroactive to March, which is when the union’s contract expired, Maloney said. There would be no pay raise in the first year of the contract SEPTA proposed.

Union workers are seeking an annual 4% wage hike and want to keep the current 1 % contribution they make toward the cost of their health care coverage.

According to the Business Journal, Maloney has said that “We are ready at a moment’s notice to return to the Governor’s Office and get this thing done. Our side signed the contract this morning and all they have to do is walk in the door and sign it.”

The union kept a weekend promise not to strike during the Phillies’ World Series home games, which wrapped up late Monday night. That promise stemmed from the intervention of Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, D-Phila.

In walking off the job with only hours notice on Tuesday, workers have left riders scrambling for alternatives, including those trying to make it to voting polls on Election Day, Maloney said.

Willie Brown, TWU 234’s president, has not responded to calls seeking comment on the negotiations and the strike.

“We think it was a more than a reasonable offer,” Maloney said. “The mayor and the governor both spent the entire day from 10 in the morning to one in the morning trying to negotiate this contract. When the union turned and walked out they both said it was outrageous.”

SEPTA bus operators earn $14.54 to $24.24 per hour; trade specialists/mechanics $14.40 to $27.59; and maintenance custodians $12.55 to $18.48. SEPTA also pays about $1,300 per month, per employee, for health care, which includes medical ($971.44), prescription ($268.70), dental ($55.96) and vision ($4.56). Employees pay 1 percent of a 40-hour work week salary times their hourly wage rate as a co-pay for health and welfare benefits.

In a related story, the Port Authority of Allegheny County narrowly avoided a strike in 2008, as talks with Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85 went down to the wire. In December, the union ratified the new deal, which included a 3% wage increase in 2009 and a 2% raise in 2010. The contract also called for a 1% increase in employee contributions to medical insurance costs this year, adding to the 1% employees already contributed. That contribution rate will increase to 3% in 2011.

Source: Business Journal