Strike!

Well here we go....Can I start the forum off with "SEPTA sucks!" ?

Well in typical SEPTA style we are screwed again. I hope everyone had a fun experience during the Live 8 concert on the RRD. Just imagine that tripled and that's what you should plan to go through come tomorrow.

Current weather, clear, 54 on Independence Mall, 48 at the Airport, and 51 at your bus stop or trolley stop, as you wait for your bus or trolley car....

IT AIN'T COMING TODAY FOLKS!!

And so it begins...the Great SEPTA Strike of 2005...all buses, trolleys, and subways are idle (that's one Christmas tune that we're singing early this year: No El, no El)...

What more is there to say? Health insurance issues is the big sticking point in the negotiations. Updates as they become available.

Now, I must mentally prepare for traffic jams, longer commute times, and invest in a new pair of sneakers.

Good luck everybody.

I was reading through the other thread, so this whole strike is due to health benifits?

How long do you guys think it would take to end the strike?

One of One-Sixty wrote:I was reading through the other thread, so this whole strike is due to health benifits?

How long do you guys think it would take to end the strike?

Health benefits is the BIG issue....they still have other smaller things on the table that hasn't been mentioned in the media, wages being among them.

No telling how long they'll be out....hopefully not for the biblical 40 days and 40 nights like in 1998.

Lost amongst the strike hoopla is that UTU 1594, representing Red Arrow operators is also walking the picket lines (likely at 69th Street as well). Evidently, the media hasn't visited West Terminal yet....

Perhaps it's lost locally, but this Associated Press article about the strike actually mentions the raise issue before mentioning the health benefits, and they also mention that UTU is on strike as well.

jfrey40535 wrote:Well here we go....Can I start the forum off with "SEPTA sucks!" ?

Yes you can.

As for me, THANK GOD I LIVE IN NEW JERSEY - where NJT labor is put well in their place- shut the hell up and drive the damn bus!

NJT employees have better salaries and benefits overall than SEPTA employees. NJT also pays retroactively on contracts, so they are a little less likely to play the games that SEPTA plays.

One of One-Sixty wrote:I was reading through the other thread, so this whole strike is due to health benefits?

More or less. Most SEPTA employees have 100% company-paid medical benefits. The cost of those benefits is going up at a huge rate (10 percent or more per year), so SEPTA is paying about a hundred million dollars a year (more than ten percent of the operating budget) just for these benefits, and further increases will only widen SEPTA's budget deficit.

SEPTA has to demonstrate it is getting these and other costs under control in order to regain the confidence of the state legislature and get a long-term funding solution (increased state subsidies). Without it, they're in deep trouble at best, and taken over by the state at worst.

Union leaders have to deal with a rather militant membership, to whom the 100% company-paid benefits is a major sign of their power. Giving up on this issue (even for the small 5% share SEPTA asked for in its last contract offer) is seen by them as a major concession, and would likely result in a challenge to the leadership for not being militant enough.

Under these circumstances, it's gonna be hard to find a settlement.

They would have taken the 5% but SEPTA took it off the damned table.

The last year I had full company paid medical benefits was 1993. It's time to wake up and smell the roses, folks!

Serice today was terrible. Anyone know if the bombers did any extra trips? On my way back to Bridesburg at 3:30 I didn't see them, at least the two that go on the Reading side.

Anyone see consist sizes for R6 Cynwyd?

Are the trains running on a Regular Schuale? I think that the union should just give up about 15% of the Health Care Costs but not pay the equlaivant of Mangement.

AmtrakFan wrote:Are the trains running on a Regular Schuale? I think that the union should just give up about 15% of the Health Care Costs but not pay the equlaivant of Mangement.

management pays squatto

I saw no push-pulls at all today.

I was distinctly unimpressed by the ticket lines today - this morning and this afternoon when i went back to get my november trailpass, there were really long lines but only one or two ticket windows open out of at least four.

I thought the lines in center city upstair before boarding on the platforms went fairly well, though.