The Pennsylvania State Senate has failed to approve funding for public transit funding across the Commonwealth. Unless the Republican-controlled upper chamber passes legislation, substantial budget cuts will hit the Commonwealth’s 53 transit agencies this month. All BLET members, family, and friends are urged to contact their state senators, especially if they are Republicans, to demand positive action in support of Pennsylvania’s mass transit systems. Click here to make your voice heard.
Faced with a $213 million deficit, SEPTA, the state’s largest transit agency, plans to cut 45% of its routes between now and January, including regional rail where BLET members operate the locomotives in Philadelphia, its surrounding suburbs and into Delaware and New Jersey.
“In addition to the tens of thousands of union members who rely on SEPTA to get around their communities, the Teamsters represent hundreds of workers at the agency. If Pennsylvania State Senators don’t solve the $213 million budget shortfall facing our public transportation infrastructure by tomorrow, millions of passengers could start experiencing severe service cuts in a matter of days,” according to a joint statement from Bill Hamilton, President of the Pennsylvania Conference of Teamsters; Jeff Joines, Director of Government Affairs of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes, and Don Hill, General Chairman of the BLET’s SEPTA locomotive engineers.
The NBC affiliate in Philadelphia has launched a live blog to follow events. It can be found here.
BLET members in Pennsylvania are asked to make their voices heard.. Please use this Take Action alert and demand your state senator support Pennsylvania’s public transit systems.