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TWU Members Relieved Strike Is Over

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Transport Workers Union Local 234 members now returning to work say they felt some of the same frustrations as stranded passengers. A union ratification vote is likely to happen a week from Friday.

At the Frankford Transportation Center, through which 16 bus lines, a trackless trolley and the Market-Frankford subway run, operators say they're more than ready to get back to giving passengers a lift.

"As long as both sides think they won out, then we did alright."

septa-bus
(credit: Steve Tawa)

Bus operator Wayne Braswell has nearly 20-years in.

"At the end of the day, we all wanted a fair contract. Sorry to inconvenience the public, but that's the cost of doing business."

Union members say they needed to bring their pensions more in line with managers, as well as settling disputes on health insurance, wages and simple quality of life issues like bathroom breaks.

Calvin Turner, a route 66 trackless trolley operator, says he felt the managers were unfairly getting a better pension than the drivers.

"We pay more into the pension than they do, and they were getting almost twice as much money as we do. We know it's not going to be even, but at least we get an increase in our pension."

Stewart Williams, also coming up on 20-years as a bus operator, agrees that the money pie was only so big, and everyone needed a slice.

"It was something that we needed to do. Our families were affected just like everyone else. We went through it with the rest of the riding community."

A TWU Local 234 ratification vote is likely to happen on November 18th. The union's national office will also give it a once over, and SEPTA's board will also set up a meeting to finalize the five-year contract.

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