SEPTA strike update, Day Six: Time to hunker down for the long haul

November 8, 3:24 PMPhiladelphia Public Transportation ExaminerSandy Smith

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Sandy Smith

With no new talks scheduled after a tentative agreement collapsed yesterday, it appears that this year's SEPTA strike is going to be a long one.

The talks collapsed last night with an acrimonious parting shot from Gov. Ed Rendell, who appeared at a news conference flanked by Mayor Michael Nutter and SEPTA Board Chairman Pasquale "Pat" DeLeon. At that conference, Rendell blasted the behavior of Transport Workers Union Local 234 leaders and threatened to pull up to $7 million in state money to pay for a new contract off the table unless the union put SEPTA's last contract offer before the members for a vote. At a hastily called news conference later that evening, TWU President Willie Brown rejected the demand, saying he was "not for sale" and that the union does not put before a vote any contract voted down by the executive committee.

In this morning's Philadelphia Inquirer, Brown is reported as explaining at the conference that the tentative agreement came apart after SEPTA "smoothed" financial details of the deal.  Rendell said that nine last-minute requests for changes in the contract would have added $7 million to its cost. The union withdrew six of those requests, and SEPTA agreed to one: extending the period of time over which worker contributions to their pension fund would increase.

The two remaining differences soured the deal. SEPTA had offered an audit of the pension fund by an independent outside auditor; the union wanted a forensic audit, performed by an auditor of its choosing, at its expense. And the union rejected a SEPTA request to add language that would reopen the contract's health-care provisions if healthcare reform legislation approved by Congress increases the agency's costs.

The union claims the employees' pension fund is underfunded both in absolute terms and relative to the pension fund for management. SEPTA maintains the fund is sound, and General Manager Joe Casey called the union's request for a forensic audit "a red herring." The employees' pension fund is funded at roughly 53 percent of total liabilities, while the management plan is funded at 65 percent.

There were also reports from insiders in the talks that TWU Local 234's executive board is divided and that former local President Jeff Brooks, now an official with the international union, has replaced Brown as lead negotiator in the talks.  Brown dismimssed the reports, saying that Rendell and others were trying to "divide and conquer" the union.