SMART UnionPHILADELPHIA – Passengers expressed relief Sunday that Philadelphia-area commuter trains were back on track after a one-day strike threatened to disrupt work schedules for tens of thousands of commuters in the coming week.
Employees ended their walkout after President Barack Obama appointed an emergency board to mediate the contract dispute between the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and two of its unions.
Read the complete story at the Associated Press.
SEPTA moved Monday to impose management’s terms in a long-running labor dispute with Regional Rail workers, which union leaders said could prompt a strike that would halt all commuter rail service at 12:01 a.m. Saturday.
SEPTA’s goal apparently is to risk a strike now, when ridership is lower, than next winter, when more commuters and students rely on the system. Regional Rail trains carry about 126,000 riders a day.
“We need to get an agreement now,” SEPTA general manager Joseph Casey said Monday. “Seven thousand other SEPTA employees have already accepted this wage package, but these 400 are holding out.”
SEPTA chief labor relations officer Stephanie K. Deiger on Monday alerted union leaders that SEPTA had sent letters on Friday to Regional Rail engineers and electrical workers, describing its intent to give them raises proposed by SEPTA effective next Sunday.
Read the whole story at Philly.com.
Nearly 99 percent of Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) members working for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) have voted to authorize a strike when a mandatory 30-day cooling off period under the Railway Labor Act ends in less than two weeks, BLET officials announced this morning.
Locomotive engineers could walk off the job or be locked out by SEPTA at 12:01 a.m. on June 14 unless President Barack Obama intervenes and appoints a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB), according to a BLET press release. A PEB would delay a strike or lockout, and would investigate and issue a report and recommendations concerning a dispute in negotiations, union officials said.
Read the complete story at Progressive Railroading.
PHILADELPHIA – A CBS 3 I-Team investigation reveals the dangers when cars and people wind up in the path of trains along SEPTA’s Regional Rail Lines.
Eyewitness News Reporter Walt Hunter spoke exclusively with a veteran engineer and conductor who tell of the horrifying moments when wrecks happen.
Read the complete story at CBS News Philadelphia.
Conductor Ed Lyons is a member of SMART Transportation Division Local 61 at Philadelphia, Pa.
TWENTY-TWO PEOPLE were hospitalized yesterday after a violent crash sent a SEPTA bus careening into a building in Chinatown, authorities said.
The collision happened just before 5 p.m. yesterday at the intersection of 11th and Vine streets, SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch said.
A Mazda sedan blew through a red light on Vine Street and slammed into the side of a Route 23 bus, forcing the bus onto the sidewalk, where it smashed into a traffic light, three parked cars and the side of the Chinese Christian Church & Center before coming to a stop, SEPTA Transit Police Chief Thomas J. Nestel said at the scene.
Read more at Philly.com.
SMART Transportation Division Pennsylvania State Legislative Director Paul Pokrowka is calling on all members to help stop legislation introduced here that bans Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority employees from striking.
H.B. 2109, introduced by State Rep. Kate Harper (R), would add SEPTA workers to the list of public employees prohibited from striking in the state, including “employees directly involved with and necessary to the functioning of the courts of this Commonwealth,” her website reads.
The bill would amend Section 1001 of P.L.563, No.195, stating that “strikes by employees of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), guards at prisons or mental hospitals, or employees directly involved with and necessary to the functioning of the courts of this Commonwealth are prohibited at any time. If a strike occurs the public employer shall forthwith initiate in the court of common pleas of the jurisdiction where the strike occurs, an action for appropriate equitable relief including but not limited to injunctions.”
Pokrowka is requesting all members and their family members to contact their representatives in the Pennsylvania General Assembly and ask them to vote “no” on H.B. 2109.
“This legislation tramples on the rights of workers. If this bill is passed, what group of workers will be targeted next?” Pokrowka asked.
To find information regarding your state representative, click here.
Harper originally introduced this legislation in 2009 following a six-day strike by various SEPTA employees, including members of the SMART Transportation Division (UTU). The legislation did not get out of committee at that time.
SMART Transportation Division Local 61 members working at Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority recently ratified a new agreement governing the rates of pay and working conditions of conductors and assistant conductors on the regional commuter railroad.
With nearly 79 percent of eligible members casting ballots, a vast majority of those voting – 87 percent – approved the agreement.
The five-year pact includes a signing bonus, general wage increases, conductor certification pay, enhanced bereavement allowance, increased uniform allowance and enriched continuation of health and welfare benefits among its provisions.
Transportation Division Vice President John E. Lesniewski, who assisted with negotiations, expressed his gratitude to GO STA General Chairperson Freddie Williams and his negotiating committee consisting of Vice General Chairpersons Francis McDermott, Martin Strom, Michelle Duncan and General Committee Secretary Nelson Pagan for their enduring commitment to finding an equitable agreement for the benefit of Local 61 members.
SEPTA is a metropolitan transportation authority that operates various forms of public transit – bus, subway and elevated rail, commuter rail, light rail and electric trolley bus – that serves 3.9 million people in and around Philadelphia, Pa.
Philadelphia police are investigating three separate accidents involving SEPTA buses in Philadelphia.
The first happened around 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15 on Vine St. near 8th.
Read the complete story at television station WPVI.
SEPTA and Port Authority employers are awaiting a decision to be made by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) on whether or not they can continue to ignore state law and keep drivers on the clock for shifts lasting up to 18 hours. SEPTA drivers can work up to 30 hours within a two-day period. Pennsylvania state law currently states that it is illegal for drivers to drive for more than 10 hours or work shifts longer than 15 hours. SEPTA employers frequently overlook this law.
PennDOT was petitioned by the Port Authority as well as SEPTA to put in place a temporary waiver to the law. They are asking for a three-year waiver to the law and propose to work with PennDOT and Pa. legislators to amend the hours-of-service policy. Transit employers want the law changed to the same policy as rail transit drivers. The policy for rail transit drivers states that a driver can be scheduled to work up to 16 hours with no more than 14 hours of actual work during that span and at least 10 hours rest between shifts.
SEPTA and Port Authority argue that to obey the current law they would have to spend millions to hire enough drivers. SEPTA argues that to be in compliance, the city of Philadelphia would need to hire an additional 135 drivers at a cost of $4.7 million a year and a one-time training cost of $600,000. If additional drivers are not hired, SEPTA claims that they would have to cut service by four percent to be in compliance.
SEPTA asserts that sleep and public safety do not factor into this issue and are “unaware of any evidence to suggest that the long-standing practice of exempting Pennsylvania transit agencies from hours-of-service regulations presents any substantial risk to public safety.”
Sleep experts disagree. It is a well-known fact through numerous sleep studies that sleep has an effect on a person’s ability to perform. According to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), “sleepiness/fatigue in the work place can lead to poor concentration, absenteeism, accidents, errors, injuries and fatalities.
People who work in the transportation industry face some of the most serious challenges. They battle fatigue because of their irregular sleep schedules and endure long tedious hours at the controls or behind the wheel. In fact, research suggests that driver fatigue behind the wheel caused by sleep deprivation is one of the leading safety hazards in the transportation industry.”
The foundation also states that the more tired you are, the more likely you are to experience what is called a “microsleep” which is an involuntary bout of sleep brought on by sleep deprivation that lasts for a few seconds.
PennDOT is expected to make a decision on this issue by the end of this month.
The SMART Transportation Division (UTU) general committee of adjustment representing conductors and assistant conductors employed by Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) has reached a tentative contract with the commuter railroad.
The agreement calls for wage increases totaling 11.5 percent over the five-year life of the contract that are similar to increases the carrier agreed to with the Transport Workers Union in 2009. TWU represents bus and subway operators and mechanics employed by SEPTA.
Approximately 390 conductors and assistant conductors are represented by SMART Transportation Division (UTU) Local 61 in Philadelphia.
Local 61 Treasurer Elliott D. Cintron said contract ballots, which have been mailed to all affected members, will be tabulated after April 24.
The tentative agreement must also be approved by SEPTA board members.