SEPTA union workers ratify 1-year contract with 7% wage increase, $3,000 signing bonus
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Workers with SEPTA's largest union ratified a new contract with the agency Friday, ensuring that the pay increases and bonuses in the agreement are all but a reality, barring one final step.
Members of SEPTA's Board will still have to vote on the contract in a meeting Thursday, Nov. 16.
"We are pleased to reach an agreement with union leadership on a contract that is fair to our employees and financially responsible for SEPTA," SEPTA Board Chairman Pasquale T. Deon Sr. said in a statement. "I look forward to the SEPTA Board's vote on the contract at its next meeting."
The contract guarantees a 7% wage increase across the board, a $3,000 signing bonus for new hires, a $2,500 retention bonus for employees who work a year after reaching retirement age, and pension increases.
There are also increases to the disability pension from $500 to $1,000 a month.
In a news release, SEPTA said the deal takes into account "a looming fiscal cliff when federal COVID relief funds run out next year."
Negotiations ended Oct. 27 after the parties reached this one-year deal, averting a strike.
During the talks, the union and SEPTA also arranged to limit forced overtime and ensure better attendance.
The agreement limits the forced overtime known as "drafting" that had drawn criticism from the union. Now, employees who get called in on a weekend will not be asked to do so again in the same calendar month.
SEPTA and TWU Local 234 will also develop a plan to train union workers on maintaining the new zero-emission vehicles that will be added to SEPTA's bus fleet. A side letter attached to the agreement says the training plan will come no later than 30 days after this agreement is ratified.
The union had called for that work to be done in-house and not be subcontracted out.
Brian Pollitt, the union's president, said the agreement "will put more money in our members' pockets during a time of high inflation and help SEPTA with recruitment and retention," but that there is still work to do, "especially as it relates to compensation, safety and security issues."