TWU's Philadelphia Local shut down the city's transportation system after months of extended deadlines and little progress forced Local 234 to strike in the middle of the night in early November. The tactic resulted in a solid contract that provides an 11.5% raise over five years with a $1,250 signing bonus; the right for the union to select which contract grievances go to arbitration and in what order a win that will help to eliminate the discrimination caused by lack of "picking" rights (the right for employees to choose their equipment and job placement based on seniority); the prevention of the authority to place the burden of health care benefit tax on the backs of workers and the ability to maintain the existing dental plan, among other provisions.

SEPTA attempted to use the country's recession as an excuse to give little in the new contract and ask for a lot in return by proposing to cut members' wages and pensions significantly. Local 234 President Willie Brown would not stand for this, especially because the authority has been operating at record-high levels. "Ridership and revenue levels are the highest the authority has seen in years putting them in a position to really work with us, but they just would not budge," said TWU Administrative Assistant to the Int'l President and former Local 234 President Jeffrey L. Brooks, Sr.

Another key issue in the negotiations was a provision the authority proposed that would make workers responsible for tax on benefits passed in health care legislation. This issue was resolved when TWU negotiators referred the provision to the Joint Labor Management Cost Containment Committee. "Meaning that if the union and management can't come to an agreement, then the provision is resolved in committee," said Brooks.

The Local held its strike authorization vote on Oct. 25, where members unanimously voted to strike. The strike was planned for 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 31 when the World Series games would be played at Philadelphia's Citizen's Bank Park. Late on Oct. 30 Pennsylvania's Gov. Ed Rendell pleaded with Brown not to strike and promised to mediate between the two parties.

Another key issue that led to the last resort of a strike was a question over an audit of the authority's pension funds. SEPTA has always underfunded its workers' pensions and, in the proposed contract, was asking them to contribute more for less in return.

While reviewing SEPTA's predicted costs for the provisions in the contract, the Local noticed that responsible and honest management of the funds was in question. When asked to allow a forensic audit of the pensions the authority refused and told Brown, "take (the contract) or leave it."

Brown could not accept that contract so several hours later, at 3 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3, all of Local 234's City, Frontier and Suburban division members went on strike. The rank and file held down the picket lines as the negotiating team battled with SEPTA over the right to a fair and equitable contract.

"The strike was something I had to do, not something I wanted to do to inconvenience anybody," said Brown. "It is our only tool of survival, and it was effective in the end."

The tactic was also a way for the Local to fight for other city unions whose contracts would expire soon and who the local government wanted to force to accept zero percent raises. "If we didn't take zeros, they'd have a hard time giving others that," said Brown. We were the first, so they figured if they make us take it they'll make everyone else take it too," but SEPTA is in much better financial condition than the city.

Local 234 members and leadership remained steadfast and refused to take a poor deal. "They say cut backs, we say fight back," became a regular chant at picket locations around the city.

On Nov. 9, Local 234 negotiators reached a tentative agreement with SEPTA, ending the six-day strike, and members overwhelmingly ratified the contract on Nov. 20.

Read more about the strike and the contracts for each transit division at http://www.twu.org/International/transit.