MEDIA: Here’s why SEPTA police are on strike and what it might take to end it

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.

LINK: https://billypenn.com/2023/12/15/septa-police-strike-better-wages/