{"id":383797,"date":"2025-11-16T21:27:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T21:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/383797\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T21:27:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T21:27:12","slug":"septa-union-members-vote-to-authorize-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/383797\/","title":{"rendered":"SEPTA union members vote to authorize strike"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story originally appeared on 6abc<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

Members of the Transport Workers Union voted Sunday to authorize a strike as contract negotiations with SEPTA continue, though union leaders say a walkout is not imminent.\n<\/p>\n

Local 234 members gathered at the Sheet Metal Workers Union Hall in South Philadelphia, where they discussed ongoing contract negotiations for an hour before voting.\n<\/p>\n

Union leaders were clear that the authorization is meant to increase pressure at the bargaining table, not to begin a strike immediately.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIf SEPTA doesn\u2019t put money on the table, we\u2019re gonna shut Philly down. We\u2019re gonna shut it down, that\u2019s what\u2019s gonna happen,\u201d said John Samuelsen, International President of the Transport Workers Union.\n <\/p>\n

Roughly 5,000 bus, trolley and subway operators, mechanics and other staff have been working without a contract since Nov. 7.\n<\/p>\n

Negotiations began in October, and workers are pushing for a two-year deal, improved benefits and changes to what they describe as outdated contract provisions.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud to say that my members unanimously voted yes, giving me the leverage to call a strike if needed at the time. I can\u2019t say that I am not at this moment ready to call a strike, that has not even been spoken about at this moment,\u201d said TWU vice president William Vera.\n<\/p>\n

He added that workers face challenges collecting sick pay, saying, \u201cIt\u2019s really hard for my members to collect sick pay. The process they have to get a doctor these days it\u2019s not necessarily the easiest thing, especially a specialist. There\u2019s too many penalties on my members if we don\u2019t hand in our paperwork as soon as possible.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not talking a strike, again, if SEPTA starts to bargain fairly we will make progress,\u201d Vera said. \u201cI haven\u2019t signed on anything tentative agreement wise. A strike will be the last measure. I\u2019m not there yet. I\u2019m optimistic that they will come to the table on Tuesday and start negotiating.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of things in this contract that have been put in since the 40s, the 50s, the 60s and now I\u2019ve been given the opportunity to change this,\u201d and, \u201cit\u2019s mismanagement by SEPTA.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Lyle Smith, a former trolley operator now working as a mechanic, said he has spent 18 years with SEPTA and believes the system has long failed workers.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cSEPTA for a long time, for the last 18 years has fumbled the bag with broken projects that have never gotten done and we don\u2019t never see anything as far as the members,\u201d he said. \u201cThe morale is bad. I mean, SEPTA really needs to pay. We\u2019re sick and tired of coming to work under poor work conditions. Poor work conditions. They wanna walk you out the door as soon as you get hired.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cIf it happens, it happens. Sorry for the public, but we gotta do what we gotta do for our families.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The stakes are significant for commuters.\n<\/p>\n

More than 50,000 Philadelphia public school students rely on SEPTA to get to and from class. Many riders said a strike would leave them with no affordable alternatives.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe strike would stop everything, I would have no way to get to work even if I were to take a rideshare service it is a financial burden,\u201d said commuter Amie Isfan, who said she takes \u201cthe bus, the trolley, the Metro \u2026 at least four times a day.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cI want to see the people who work at SEPTA paid properly and taken care of cause they\u2019re getting us to where we need to go,\u201d and, \u201chopefully they\u2019re able to reach an agreement that everyone can benefit from.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Gesturing as her ride arrived, she noted, \u201cPhilly runs on public transportation \u2014 and speaking of, this is my bus \u2026 \u201d\n<\/p>\n

Kenneth McTillman of North Philadelphia said the uncertainty has become routine.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess that\u2019s the new tactic. Little short-term deals then we\u2019re back on strike and it\u2019s like the common man just not looked out for,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you put all your hopes in SEPTA when you\u2019re going to work you\u2019re gonna be unemployed. I don\u2019t do it. I look at it as a luxury because SEPTA don\u2019t care about us.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

In a statement, SEPTA said it remains committed to reaching a deal. \u201cWe are committed to continuing to engage in good-faith negotiations, with the goal of reaching an agreement on a new contract that is fair to our hard-working employees and to the taxpayers and fare-paying customers that fund the system.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The last SEPTA strike occurred in 2016 and lasted six days.\n<\/p>\n

Union leaders return to the bargaining table on Tuesday along with SEPTA management.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story originally appeared on 6abc. Members of the Transport Workers Union voted Sunday to authorize a strike…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":383798,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[71553,5229,1448,2830,1311,183393,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-383797","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-6abc","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-pa","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-philadelphia","13":"tag-septa-strike","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115561499495875892","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}