Halloween may be spookier than usual this year if you plan on taking the subway home from a party. At 12:01 a.m., Philadelphia's mass transit system will grind to a halt. At least, that's the ultimatum from the Transit Workers Union, whose workers have been without a contract since March 15.
By this point, the ongoing spat is getting ridiculous. Bus drivers need to know that they'll have a job come Nov. 1, and the 700,000 people who use the transit system each day need to know that they can get to work or school or wherever else.
Instead of hammering out a compromise, both SEPTA and the Local 234 have traded jabs at each other. That's not solving anything, and the citizens of this city deserve better.
it is now time for real leadership on this issue, lest Philadelphia be paralyzed by a strike as it was for 40 days in 1998. This city, which is desperately trying to jumpstart economic growth, cannot afford that. Neither can the thousands who rely on SEPTA as their only mode of transportation.
As for Mayor Street? He's mainly dodged the issue, hoping that the crisis would simply go away.
Governor Rendell? He cut SEPTA a check this spring for $215 million just to bail the agency out from under a mountain of red ink. Since then, the governor has stayed out of the negotiations he once played an active role in as mayor.
Enough is enough.
Rendell and Street, as much as it might hurt, have to pull these two sides together.
The whole debate now centers around whether transit workers will have to carry a portion of the financial load for their health-care plans. SEPTA claims that it doesn't have the money, and it's right. The union contends that its employees should not suffer from another cut in pay and benefits, and it too makes a good point.
Something has to give -- and soon.
However dire the financial situation might be, the Transit Workers need a new contract. Philadelpians have put up with this on-again-off-again crisis for too long.
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