SEPTA announced Wednesday that it had reached an agreement with Transport Workers' Union Local 234 to extend workers' contracts until June 15, averting a strike that could have begun at 12:01 this morning.
According to Penn City and Regional Planning professor Vukan Vuchic, the expanded time-frame allows the sides to "avoid rash decisions under pressure."
"It gives them more time to analyze" the proposals, he said.
In addition, the delay at least postpones a transit strike that could have crippled the region.
"It would have a paralyzing impact," Vuchic said, noting that a strike would stifle tourism, prevent patients from getting to medical appointments and interfere with workers' commutes.
The contract extension -- requested by union officials -- does not necessarily guarantee that the two sides will reach an agreement, enabling them to avoid a strike entirely.
Indeed, there are many constraints on both sides, and the talks still seem to be in their early stages.
"There has been no discussion of wages," Transport Workers Union Local 234 spokesman Bob Bedard said.
There will not be any such talks, he said, "until both sides get all of the noneconomic issues out of the way."
Foremost among these sticking points are health care provisions. Specifically, SEPTA wants its employees to pay a premium, something the union considers intolerable.
"No premium level is acceptable," Bedard said.
This is not to say, however, that employees are unwilling to pay for medical services.
"TWU members -- every one of them pays for health care," he said.
In addition to their co-pays, new employees receive limited health benefits. Also, Bedard said, the union has agreed to forgo cost-of-living adjustments in order to defray health care costs, resulting in savings of $15 million for SEPTA.
These concessions, he said, were part of a de facto covenant with SEPTA, under which the union agreed to give up wages and other benefits in exchange for health coverage.
Bedard also has problems with the way SEPTA has conducted the negotiations.
On Sunday, he said, the transit agency "dumped 32 new proposals" on the union, giving them only five days to evaluate them.
"I don't think SEPTA even knows what they want," he said.
Calling transit officials "most incompetent," he added that he feels that SEPTA is waging a media war.
"If SEPTA ran as successful a transit business as it does a propaganda business," Bedard said, "people would flock to them and they would be rich."
"They treat their riders like cattle and their employees like chattel," he said of SEPTA's business strategy.
These problems notwithstanding, Bedard is hopeful that a deal can be reached before the June 15 deadline.
He is still concerned, though, that there could be problems.
"Based on their track record of the last week," Bedard said, "we would not be surprised if they dropped something at the last minute."
SEPTA spokesman Richard Maloney would not respond to Bedard's comments.
"A lot of this came out yesterday. We're not going to do anything to perpetuate it," he said, adding that SEPTA is ready to get into serious talks with the union.
"We are encouraging the union to come and talk as soon as possible."
Until serious talks come to fruition, however, a transit strike remains a real possibility for this summer. The last time the union went on strike was in 1998, when service was halted for six weeks.
