PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — SEPTA Transit Police officers are going back to work and ending their strike after reaching a tentative agreement, SEPTA and the union said Saturday.
SEPTA confirmed the agreement in a statement, as did a union source, on Saturday.
The agreement ends the strike and officers will head back to work their regular shifts starting on Saturday afternoon.
Officers in the Fraternal Order of Transit Police Lodge 109 went on strike Wednesday night after they could not come to terms with SEPTA over the length of the next contract with police officers.
About two-thirds of the union’s 170 members voted against SEPTA’s offer of a 43-month contract. The union was in favor of a three-year contract.
The sides were in agreement about pay increases for the officers, but the union wanted them spread out over the shorter three-year period instead of the longer 43 months. That means officers will see the pay increases more quickly.
Since Wednesday night, supervisory transit police as well as Philadelphia police and officers from neighboring towns have been filling in as security at SEPTA stations and aboard subway trains.
LINK: https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/septa-transit-police-strike-ends-philadelphia/
