Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
If you had plans to take a trip into Philadelphia using SEPTA Regional Rail they were thrown into the wind at 12:01 a.m, as the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) began a “work stoppage” SEPTA Regional Rail service was brought to halt.
The Railway Labor Act cooling off period ended on Saturday, June 14, at 12:01 a.m as negotiations among the unions and SEPTA have gone on for five years now.
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A SEPTA, a release late Friday said, they remain hopeful continued good faith negotiations will yield a resolution on terms that are consistent with SEPTA’s other labor contracts, said spokesperson Jerria Williams’.
As midnight approached, and with no deal approved, as promised, regional rail workers went on strike and SEPTA’s Service Interruption Plan went into effect.
According to SEPTA officials, 60,000 commuters at 153 stations rely on regional rail service daily. SEPTA officials are encouraging regional rail riders to use alternative methods of travel until the work stoppage ends.
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For the West Trenton and Trenton lines in the Lower Bucks area, a little more than 12,000 riders are affected according to SEPTA data.
Striking workers and SEPTA have been at odds since 2009 when the Railway Labor Cooling of Act was imposed when discussions for a new agreement hit an impasse.
At a little past 4 p.m. Saturday, SEPTA released a statement that said they had been “notified that Governor Corbett’s office has made a request to the White House for a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) to be created. The PEB is a presidentially appointed board of arbitrators charged with making recommendations on the dispute between SEPTA, the BLET and the IBEW.”
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Once the PEB is created, the release continued, employees must return to work, and SEPTA cannot implement the wage increases it announced on June 7.
In terms of regional rail service, employees will be not required to return to work until the PEB has been created, thus service cannot be restored as of today, the statement reads. The Regional Rail network is complex and, based on the return of manpower and the required inspection of equipment, it will take at the minimum 8 to 10 hours to return to normal operations.
According to union officials, SEPTA has tried to “impose its will” on its workers by offering a “fair and reasonable collective bargaining agreement” on the unions behalf.
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Which included a proffer of arbitration by the union through the National Mediation Board.
Union officials in a letter to its members, that LevittownNow.com obtained, said SEPTA is deathly afraid of a PEB being instituted because a formal investigation would reveal how SEPTA is “trying to cheat” locomotive engineers.
As of Saturday at 6:11 p.m., regional rail riders, the customers the union and SEPTA serves, suffer at the hands of a work stoppage. That is an immutable fact.
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Note: SEPTA is prepared to accommodate passengers by increasing capacity on its other modes which include the Broad Street Line, Market/Frankford Line, Norristown High Speed Line, Trolleys and Buses. Enhanced service will be based on the availability of equipment and manpower which will include adding
