(The following appeared at Metro.com on March 31, 2009.)
PHILADELPHIA — While SEPTA bus, subway and trolley operators continue to work without a new deal two weeks after their contract expired, union leaders said they may file an unfair labor practice lawsuit if SEPTA does not respond to its proposal.
Transport Workers Union Local 234, which represents 4,700 SEPTA workers, has not met with SEPTA negotiators face-to-face since March 14 – the day before the contract expired.
Brown insists the union does not plan to strike, but simply wants to negotiate. Its latest proposal asks for wage increases of 3.5 and 4.5 percent, and language limiting subcontracting and appointing an ombudsman to hear employee-management complaints.
The union alleges that SEPTA is offering no wage increases for the next two years because of requests from Gov. Ed Rendell and Mayor Michael Nutter, who both hope to negotiate new deals with city and state workers, respectively, to close budget deficits.
A SEPTA spokesman denied the allegations, saying the governor and mayor have not been “directly” at the table. Rendell’s office also denied any involvement, while Nutter’s office would not say if it has taken part.
“What we have been told is that Michael Nutter has met with SEPTA and has pretty much said they must get zeros from us, because he’s going to try to get zeros from the city,” said Willie Brown, president of Local 234, referring to what he claims a SEPTA negotiator told him. “That, in itself, is unfair labor practice.”