TWU Releases Statement On SEPTA's 'Good Faith' Negotiations During Strike
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The president of Transport Workers Union Local 234, Willie Brown released a statement, responding to remarks made by SEPTA Board Chairman, Pasquale Deon that the transit agency has bargained with urgency and good faith and has presented "fair offers" to the union during negotiations. Nearly 5000 SEPTA employees went on strike moments after their contract expired at midnight October 31.
Read the statement below:
Pat Deon must have dusted off a news release from some other contract negotiation if he claims SEPTA "has bargained in good faith with the union, presented fair offers, and quickly and thoughtfully responded to all proposals." Really. Who is he kidding? Where has he been? SEPTA's bargaining team and high-priced outside lawyers stonewalled contract talks for months prior to the strike. When the strike was called they didn't utter a word for the first 16 hours.
Make no mistake, if we had accepted their terms prior to the strike deadline our members would have taken home less in their paychecks next year than they earn today.
TWU 234 has been prepared to bargain day and night. We won't apologize for trying to maintain quality affordable healthcare for our members and their families. We think our members deserve to have adequate time to go to the bathroom. We find it absurd that simple no-cost reforms that would reduce fatigue, allow our members adequate rest, and likely reduce accidents can be blocked because they want to maintain "flexibility."
Pat Deon likes to talk about the pension issue, but he has been deceptive in the way he has described his actions to the elected leaders who appointed him and to the riding public. Instead of correcting abuses, as Deon and SEPTA promised two years ago, we caught him with his hand in the cookie jar. In a slap in the face to the legislators in Harrisburg who fought for transportation funding, he was responsible for secretly giving thousands of additional dollars in pension benefits to managers on top of their two generous pension plans they currently receive. He did this at a time when SEPTA had pledged a more equitable approach to the way retirement benefits were awarded.
Despite the SEPTA Board Chairman's rhetoric, and thanks to the efforts of concerned elected leaders, along with the help of a state mediator, progress was made in the past 36 hours. More needs to be done. We've been engaged in give and take. But Deon's idea of bargaining where he tells the public half-truths about what's on the table while telling the union to take it or leave it won't get us across the finish line.
Also not helpful is asking us to suspend the strike for Election Day. Rather than talking about next week, SEPTA and its Board Chairman should stop their games and work with us to get a settlement now.
