SEPTA Transit Police are on strike.
SEPTA officials do not believe the strike will cause service disruptions for riders, they said in a press release.
SEPTA and the Fraternal Order of Transit Police Lodge 109 have been negotiating a new contract, but members of the FOTP walked off the job when they said a contract presented to them “wasn’t what they told us it was going to be.” The FOTP represents 178 officers with the SEPTA Transit Police Department.
“It’s extremely frustrating,” said Troy Parham, vice president of the union, as he and others picketed outside SEPTA’s headquarters in downtown Philadelphia. “They (SEPTA) let us believe we were almost there. At the last minute, we have to call this strike. It’s unfortunate.”
Union president Omari Bervine told TV station WTXF that the union is underpaid and understaffed and that members “need to be compensated fairly.”
