Transit police are poised to walk off the job as early as Monday afternoon — the deadline their union set — as weekend contract talks with SEPTA failed to produce a last-minute agreement, according to union leaders and the transit agency.
SEPTA management and the Fraternal Order of Transit Police Lodge 109 met until about 8 p.m. Sunday and had talked for several hours on Saturday in an effort to forestall a strike. The transit police officers’ contract expired in March and union members voted last month to authorize a walkout.
Members of the FOTP have said they want wages that are closer to those offered by other police departments in the region. The union argues a pay disparity has contributed to understaffing amid rider concerns about crime and antisocial behavior on transit.
“While SEPTA is disappointed that the FOTP — in the midst of negotiations being mediated by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry — arbitrarily selected tomorrow as a strike deadline, we hope you will join us in encouraging FOTP leadership to remain at the bargaining table,” SEPTA CEO Leslie S. Richards said in a letter Sunday night to City Councilmember Isaiah Thomas and eight colleagues.
