SEPTA standoff sees new talks, little hope

and Edward Sherwin As 5,200 members of the Transport Workers Union Local 234 continue their third week without pay, there are indications that an end may finally be in sight to the crippling strike which has shut down the city transit system. In an effort to jump-start stalled negotiations between the union and SEPTA management, City Council President John Street introduced a resolution Tuesday which may ultimately result in a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court compelling the two sides to resume talks with a state-monitored negotiator. The union and management did finally make it back to the bargaining table Monday night after more than a week without negotiations. However, members of City Council are prepared to file a suit on Friday, if an agreement is not reached -- assuming Street's resolution, as expected, passes the vote of Council. "[Street] feels this is an appropriate course of action to take under the circumstances and the majority of City Council members seem to feel the same way because they signed on to the resolution," Street spokesperson Bruce Crawley said. "We'll see though if it goes to a vote on Friday." West Philadelphia Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell said she is a proponent of the resolution "as it stands." "They're negotiating as we speak, but should a settlement not be reached, we will take that next step and bring them to court," Blackwell said. "We, as elected officials have to do something to try to get this city rolling again." And TWU President Steve Brookens told the Associated Press that Street's resolution is a step in the right direction. "We may need a third party to clear up the issues," Brookens said to the AP. "But we expect to be talking all week." SEPTA, on the other hand, feels that any City Council legislation would be useless. "We've been saying for a week we don't believe litigation is warranted," SEPTA spokesperson Stephan Rosenfeld said. "We appreciate the intense interest in having the strike settled, but there is a method already in place to do that -- collective bargaining is set up to do that." But Street will not be alone in submitting court papers to force an end to the standoff. On Monday, City Controller Jonathan Saidel, consumer activist Lance Haver and several Council members filed a lawsuit in Common Pleas Court seeking to suspend the tax subsidies that SEPTA receives from the state government -- amounting to about $500,000 a day. "I think it's imperative that the SEPTA system feel the pain that it's causing, and it won't unless its funding sources are cut off," Saidel said to the AP. But Deputy Mayor Kevin Feeley, speaking for the administration -- which actively supports SEPTA management in the dispute -- said that such a move would be unwarranted. "SEPTA never locked out its workers," he said. "The city would be violating its own covenant if it did not pay its city share" of the subsidies. Feeley defended the management proposal out on the table, which includes 9 percent in pay raises over three years, a 32 percent increase in pension benefits and a no-layoff clause. "The Mayor's position is pretty clear," he said. "Our view of this is that the union has to come back and negotiate." He also called upon the union to recognize SEPTA's troubled financial situation. "The days when we could increase subsidies from Harrisburg or the federal government are now over," he explained. "The system will collapse if SEPTA cannot get some savings out of the contract."