Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
A six-day strike by SEPTA workers caused serious problems for users of the public transportation system in 2009. One Philadelphia-area lawmaker is working to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
Newly reintroduced House Bill 2109 by State Rep. Kate Harper (R-Montgomery) would prohibit SEPTA employees from going on strike.
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“The mass transit system is absolutely vital to the Philadelphia region, and to the millions of people who rely upon it to get to and from work, school, appointments and errands every day,” Harper said in a written statement. “We simply cannot afford a repeat of the 2009 strike, which occurred with no notice and left people stranded.
The proposed legislation does not require SEPTA unions to engage in binding arbitration.
“Specifically, House Bill 2109 would ban strikes by workers at SEPTA by adding them to a list of public employees already prohibited from striking, including guards at prisons or mental hospitals, or employees directly involved with and necessary to the functioning of the courts of this Commonwealth,” a press release from the state representative reads.
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Harper previously introduced the bill in 2009 but it did not gain much traction.
SEPTA has contracts with several unions covering suburban maintenance and clerical employees, mechanics and bus drivers. Transport Workers Union Local 234, which is currently without a contract, is the transit systems largest union and covered about 4,700 workers.
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The bill comes as talk of a strike grows as several contract are set to expire next month.
The bill is now referred to the House Labor and Industry Committee.
