PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — SEPTA workers aboard buses, subways and trolleys will hold a strike authorization vote this weekend even as delays and cancellations continue aboard Regional Rail trains.
The agency’s contract with Transport Workers Union Local 234 expired on Friday, and the system’s largest union said it’s time for the next move.
“We have reached a point in negotiations where it's time to call the strike authorization,” said Local 234 President Will Vera. The vote will be held Sunday morning.
The union represents about 5,000 operators and maintenance workers who run transit services, mostly within city limits. Regional Rail conductors are represented by a different union.
In a video to members, Local 234 Executive Vice President Bill Bannon said that the union will hand out strike signs and T-shirts so that their members can be ready to go if they need to hit the picket line.
The union is seeking a two-year deal after two consecutive one-year agreements with SEPTA.
“It's been a good, cordial process so far,” said SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch. “We expect that to continue.”
But as the cash-strapped transit agency seeks to reach an agreement to prevent a possible transit stoppage within the city, they’re also taking steps to alleviate the pain for suburban rail commuters.
Amid a week of widespread cancellations, delayed trains and cramped commutes caused by the federally mandated inspections of the 50-year-old Silverliner IV cars, SEPTA has struck a deal with Maryland-based MARC to rent 10 additional cars.
“We're looking at any options that are available to us for supplementing the fleet that we have,” Busch said.
The cars, which will cost SEPTA $22,000 a month to rent, will take several weeks to become available for service, because they first need to be transported up by Amtrak before they can train operators on them.
While all the Silverliner IV cars will be inspected by then, the MARC cars will still be needed since less than 40% of Silverliners have been allowed back in service so far.
The MARC cars, which are about 10 years newer than Silverliner IV cars, are the same Nippon Sharyo model that previously served Philadelphia when Silverliner V cars had to be taken out of service in 2016.