Nutter Watching Septa Rail Strike Situation Hopefully
By Steve Tawa
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Mayor Nutter is hoping both sides find common ground to avoid a shutdown of service on Septa's Regional Rail lines.
The mayor has no direct role in the labor dispute, but he says his people are monitoring developments.
"I'm not going to prejudge what happens," he told KYW Newsradio, "but in the end we need to have railway service to keep people and commerce moving."
Then there is the question of whether Governor Corbett would ask President Obama to appoint an emergency board to intervene in the bargaining. That would compel workers to return to their jobs for 240 days.
"That is the governor's call," Nutter said. "We're in regular communication with the governor's office, again monitoring what's going on."
When asked about Septa's double-digit wage-hike offer and the unions' complaints about their rising pension contributions, Mayor Nutter says he won't get into the particulars:
"I'm going to let them do what they do," he said.