SEPTA contract talks make little progress

More than a week of contract negotiations between SEPTA and its union has passed. And both sides have little to show for it, besides blasting each other at daily news conferences. The inconsequential and increasingly acrimonious negotiations continue into their ninth day today. Leaders from the Transport Workers Union Local 234 vowed over the weekend to again delay a possible strike that would shut down the city's buses, subways and trolleys, leaving people fumbling for other ways to get around. With officials from the union and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority still talking more than a week beyond the original contract deadline of March 15, it is unclear whether the TWU is willing to settle with what it calls an inflexible SEPTA management. "It's like we're all standing here in Philadelphia, Pa., and the TWU is somewhere around Mars," SEPTA's chief negotiator David L. Cohen told reporters yesterday at the Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel, where negotiations are taking place. "We've got plenty of room to move around in Philadelphia? but we've got to at least get ourselves on the same planet," he added. TWU President Steve Brookens said the union has yielded as much as it can on the issues of wages and pensions for its 5,300 members. Those issues spurred a union rally yesterday outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center, where SEPTA General Manager Jack Leary was making opening remarks to a conference of the American Public Transit Association. At the rally, Brookens shouted to a fired-up crowd of 200 that "we have no contract here in Philadelphia, and we're not going to tolerate it." Still, the union is reluctant to call a strike, making riders wonder whether the stalemate will ever end. At best, negotiations have crept forward since last week, but by some indications they have actually slowed down. Cohen, who is Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell's former chief of staff, insisted yesterday that the outcome of the talks is dependent on the union. He said no contract has been approved yet because the negotiations backtracked with the union's most recent proposal. "The document we received last night [from the union] is not at all responsive to the central issues at stake in this negotiation," Cohen said, adding that the union did not attempt to compromise on SEPTA's desire for a zero-tolerance policy for drugs and alcohol, as well as management's plan to cut benefits. "If the union is interested in negotiating seriously and in good faith, we will be willing to do so," Cohen said. Cohen emphasized that the speed of negotiations has in fact decelerated since March 14, when the union called off a strike one hour before the scheduled walkout. But TWU spokesperson Bruce Bodner called Cohen a "dictator" and an "emperor." Bodner blasted SEPTA management for leaving the hotel early yesterday without responding to the union's latest proposal. He added that the union cannot accept all the conditions of the management's framework. "There's no way the Transport Workers Union is going to turn over to SEPTA $12 million over 3 years to help finance their overpaid managers and their lucrative benefits package," Bodner said. Bodner was referring to the amount SEPTA's proposal would save the agency. The union claims that SEPTA does not need to save that much. City Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, who represents West Philadelphia, stopped by the hotel yesterday to stress her support for the union. "We believe the public sentiment is on [the union's] side," said Blackwell, who was wearing a black satin TWU jacket. "This has been a union town, and none of us believe in union busting."

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