SEPTA strike averted after workers' union, transit agency reach new contract
SEPTA and Transport Workers Union Local 234 reached a tentative labor agreement Monday that, if ratified, would avert a strike in Philadelphia.
TWU Local 234 and the transit agency reached a tentative two-year contract that includes a 3.5% wage increase each year and increases in pension benefits, night differential pay and health benefits for new employees, the union announced. New employees would have their vision and dental benefits start after 90 days instead of after 15 months of employment under the agreement.
"I am very pleased that we were able to settle without a strike. Our members had worked without a contract for the past month. Patience was growing thin and management seemed unhurried," TWU Local 234 President Will Vera said in a statement. "The governor and his people got key people from both sides in the same room last night, stopped the run-around, got promises from both sides and we reached a deal. Without the Governor's intervention, we would have been on strike this morning."
The union would have to ratify the new agreement later this month.
"We spent the weekend, and we finally reached a deal this morning. Something that the union has just gotten a vote from their executive board," SEPTA General Manager Scott Sauer said. "We will await a ratification vote, hopefully this week, and present it to our board next Thursday [Dec. 18]."
The agreement comes days after a strike appeared imminent. Union leaders warned Friday that their members were on the verge of striking after negotiations appeared stalled. A strike would have ground the city to a halt as hundreds of thousands of Philadelphians rely on SEPTA daily.
TWU Local 234 members have been working without a contract since Nov. 7, and members voted to authorize a strike last month. The union, the largest representing SEPTA employees, serves 5,000 subway, trolley and bus operators and mechanics.
Cooler heads prevailed over the weekend. SEPTA and union representatives said they resumed negotiations Monday after what the Philadelphia-based transit authority called a "productive" weekend of discussions. SEPTA service ran on a normal schedule Monday.
"Any time the union sets a tone that they're intending to walk out, we're close," Sauer said. "I don't ever think they're bluffing. We go into these discussions knowing, especially after they get their authorization vote, that that's always a chance, but certainly we wanted to avoid that at all costs."
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro's office also got involved with the negotiations over the weekend. Union representatives met with senior SEPTA officials at Shapiro's Philadelphia office, where they said "significant progress was made toward a contract settlement."
"Gov. Shapiro was instrumental in preventing a strike that could have started as soon as Monday morning. We're grateful for his close involvement and support," TWU Local 234 President Will Vera said in a statement Sunday.
The union sought better wages and sick pay, pension increases and better health care, as well as a two-year deal rather than going year to year, as they have been since 2023.
TWU Local 234 members last went on strike in 2016, a standoff that ended after six days. SEPTA and the union averted a strike in 2023 and 2024 with one-year deals.
For SEPTA, a strike would have been the latest setback in what has been a difficult year that has seen funding and reliability challenges. Regional Rail service has been disrupted after federally mandated inspections and repairs on its Silverliner IV rail cars. Shapiro flexed nearly $220 million in capital funds to the transit agency on Nov. 24 for safety and infrastructure improvements.
"Everybody knows the year that we've had," Sauer said. "We didn't need a strike also to be one more thing our customers had to deal with."
SEPTA is also in contract negotiations with SMART Local 1594, which represents more than 300 bus, train and trolley operators in Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties. SMART Local 1594 members voted to authorize a strike on Nov. 21.
"TWU presents the pattern," Sauer said. "We will present similar contracts to each of the remaining unions, and we will go through discussions there."
This is a developing story and will be updated.