For the first time in four years, SEPTA police are on strike.
The roughly 170 members of Fraternal Order of Transit Police Lodge #109 walked off the job Wednesday afternoon and the union began picketing SEPTA’s headquarters on Market Street on Thursday.
If history is any guide, commuters can expect the strike to last at least several days as the FOTP and SEPTA management hammer out a deal over proposed pay increases for officers.
Officials with the transit agency have vowed that the work stoppage won’t affect operations, and say they’re implementing plans with the Philadelphia police and other law enforcement agencies to fill in the gaps.
So how’d we get here, and what’s next?
What does the union want?
As in previous transit cop strikes in 2019 and 2012, pay is central to the fight.
SEPTA says it’s offered to increase officers’ wages by 13% over three years, and previously said it would give $3,000 signing bonuses if there was no strike.
The union rejected the proposal because it says it doesn’t match raises won by the agency’s much larger Transit Workers Union during contract negotiations last month, according to news reports.
TWU’s one-year contract renewal included a 13% increase. But police union officials say SEPTA’s offer to them doesn’t account for the 6 months they went without pay hikes previously, effectively delaying the proposed increase. They describe it as a 43-month contract offer rather than a 3-year deal.
SEPTA police earn an average of $115,570 a year including overtime, the Inquirer reported. Their base salary when hired is $64,570 and rises to $85,618 in their 25th year on the job.
The FOTP’s last contract expired March 31.
Who’s filling in?
SEPTA says 60 non-unionized transit police supervisors will work extended shifts to ensure a law enforcement presence at busy locations around the system.
The Philadelphia police, university police, and local police in the other four counties the agency serves — Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery — will help respond to calls for service and help with patrol checks, K-9 officers, and other needs.
The city’s Office of Emergency Assistance will also assist, as will private security guards who work on the Market-Frankford and Broad Street lines, and other locations as needed.
Are there any other issues?
The pay dispute is holding up a contract deal, but other problems are simmering in the background.
SEPTA has seen spikes in crime and violence over the past few years, despite — or perhaps due in part — to a sharp decline in ridership since the pandemic hit.
Robberies and aggravated assaults were up 80% from 2019 to 2021, and drivers and other transit workers reported increasing attacks on them on the job. Quality-of-life violations like fare evasion and use of illegal substances climbed 34% from 2019 to 2022, per the Inquirer.
The FOTP has blamed understaffing. A few years ago SEPTA had over 200 officers, but the number is now closer to 160. After a rape on the MFL in 2021, a union official said the low staffing meant there were only 90 officers in the patrol division, and as a result only 35 officers were patrolling the whole system at any given time.
SEPTA increased the size of its police force 10% in June with the swearing-in of 21 recruits — but it’s still short of its budgeted staff of 170.
It also contracts with outside contractors to provide security guards, as well as outreach agents to help customers and serve as “eyes and ears” for police, and it coordinates with social workers to help vulnerable people in the system.
Can SEPTA afford to give pay increases?
Big declines in ridership during the pandemic, along with the looming expiration of federal COVID relief funds, has led to a money crunch.
SEPTA estimates the federal assistance will be exhausted in April 2024, creating a structural deficit of more than $240 million in fiscal year 2025, which starts next July. That could result in service cuts and higher fares.
Agency officials have asked the state legislature to reallocate more sales tax revenue to Pennsylvania’s Public Transportation Trust Fund to partly cover the shortfall, without raising tax rates. SEPTA estimates that would bring in an additional $190 million annually.
The agency’s tight finances have apparently made the contract negotiations more difficult. “We have to be careful,” SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch told the Inquirer last month. “We don’t have much room when it comes to additional money.”
When’s the last time this happened?
The most recent transit police strike, in 2019, lasted six days. In addition to pay, union members and management disagreed over how to handle officers’ body cameras.
Officers had been barred from reviewing footage from their own cameras before making written statements during misconduct investigations. The new contract allowed them to review the footage first if the incident involved an arrest or use of force, the Inquirer reported.
Before that the last police strike was in 2012. It lasted nine days and was said to have ended up costing both sides more money than they were fighting over to begin with.
What’s next?
More negotiations for SEPTA and the FOTP. Stay tuned.
