Philadelphia’s public transit system has reached a tentative contract agreement with its largest union, averting a potential strike that could force thousands of workers to walk off the job.
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and Transport Workers Union Local 234 announced the one-year agreement on Wednesday. It calls on union members to receive a 5% pay increase and an unspecified pension adjustment. The contract also includes language aimed at improving the personal safety of frontline workers, including installing bulletproof enclosures for drivers as many face violence and intimidation.
Union President Brian Pollitt said a ratification vote would take place on December 6.
The agreement comes about two weeks after union members voted to authorize a strike after their one-year contract with SEPTA expired on Nov. 8. However, union leaders agreed to postpone a strike as long as they felt progress was being made in negotiations. table.
Local 234 has approximately 5,000 members, including bus, subway and trolley operators, mechanics, cashiers, maintenance people and administrators.
Pollitt said Wednesday that avoiding a strike was a priority, noting that public transportation is a “necessity” for many residents, including students who take SEPTA trains and buses to school and workers who rely on the agency to get to to go to work.
“We got a fair deal, and now we must focus on ensuring SEPTA remains strong for everyone who depends on it,” Pollitt said.
Scott Sauer, interim general manager of SEPTA, said both sides worked hard to reach an agreement.
“This agreement is fair to our hardworking frontline employees and responsible to customers and taxpayers,” he said.
SEPTA, which has repeatedly said its financial health is uncertain, recently proposed a 21.5% across-the-board fare increase that would take effect on New Year’s Day, as well as severe service cuts that would take effect next summer. The agency has scheduled a public hearing on the plan for Dec. 13.
If approved by SEPTA’s board, passengers would pay the increase on top of a proposed 7.5% interim average fare increase that the panel will consider later this month. If the measure is adopted, it will come into effect on December 1. If both increases take effect, the cost for a single ride on the city bus and subway will go from $2 to $2.90. SEPTA key fares, which give passengers discounts if they use a prepaid card to pay fares that now range from $3.75 to $6.50 depending on the zone they use, would range from $5 to $8.75 on Jan. 1.
SEPTA last raised fares in 2017, and the proposed increase is expected to raise another $23 million for this fiscal year and $45 million annually starting in 2026.
SEPTA, the nation’s sixth-largest mass transit system, faces a $240 million annual structural budget deficit as federal pandemic aid is phased out. The country lost out on about $161 million in state aid after the Republican-controlled Senate refused to vote on Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposal for $283 million in new state aid for public transportation. Instead, lawmakers approved a one-time payment to the state’s transit systems trust fund, of which SEPTA received $46 million.