October 12, 2005
Potential SEPTA Strike More Than Meets the Eye
A SEPTA strike is looming in the City of Brotherly Love. For those of us who have lived through a SEPTA strike and rely on public transit, the idea is vaguely terrifying. Bike riding on city streets is a gamble -- the vast majority of city drivers refuse to share the road with bicyclists or pedestrians, and many of the side streets are giant pot hole-infested bike wreckers. And dishing out cab fare plus that extra 19.4% PGW rate hike means many of us will be living the life of a very poor hermit shortly.
Most of us don't really know what's at stake in this strike. We hear the local news say that SEPTA management wants the workers to pay for some of their own healthcare, and we think, "Well, hey, we pay a portion of our healthcare. That seems only fair." But that's not really what's up.
Thanks to Young Philly Politics, a clearer picture has emerged as to just what SEPTA management is asking. First, we need to understand that the only SEPTA workers who get 100% paid healthcare is management. And the management at SEPTA is large and unruly -- nearly one manager for every regular employee. While SEPTA managers have gotten nice, fat raises every year, SEPTA workers have not received a raise in two years.
Consider what your benefits at work are, now consider this: SEPTA workers gave up sick days (they still get long term illness benefits) already, and they also pay for all their prescriptions, dental and vision. Now management is asking SEPTA workers to give up maternity leave, some vacation time, and all weekly overtime. In addition, management has proposed a 20% increase in health care premiums and a 20% decrease in the benefits. Management would not be affected by any of these concessions.
It hardly seems fair to blame the union and SEPTA employees, does it? Sure, SEPTA employees are often surly and unhelpful, but they don't deserve the blame in the way that the local media will have us believe.
Phillyist relies on public transit and we've always been aghast at the poor management of SEPTA. Now we're disgusted by what management is trying to do to its workers and the union. A strike will suck, but we're with the union on this one.
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"Bike riding on city streets is a gamble -- the vast majority of city drivers refuse to share the road with bicyclists or pedestrians, and many of the side streets are giant pot hole-infested bike wreckers."
eh. ride your bike.
don't make excuses.
or don't ride it.
but don't blame it on the drivers (try nyc for uncaring drivers) or the streets.
lots of people ride their bikes to work here in philly as well as other much more un-accomodating cities - cities that have hills no bike lanes at all.
please.
So...you're saying that riding on Philly streets isn't a gamble because streets in NYC are worse? Or that I shouldn't complain because Philly has bike lanes, even if Philly drivers ignore the bike lanes?
I've ridden my bike on Philly streets during transit strikes and not during transit strikes. Just because drivers are worse elsewhere doesn't mean it's any less dangerous for me.
Please.
Thank you for this realistic viewpoint. In political wars like Philly unions are famous for, it's hard to put faith in claims from any side of any negotiation and have some clue as to the facts hiding behind the PR show.
Now for a local news reporter to exand on this and put pressure on SEPTA to abandon its top-heavy mentality and cut the fat, saving the customers money and giving the employees the benefits they deserve.
it's not a gamble any more than anything else with a potential for danger - whether playing sports, driving a car, or crossing the street.
if one rides safely, with proper equipment - helmet, lights, etc, pays attention to ones surroundings (same as when one drives a car hopefully) philly is definitely not a bad city to ride in - and yes, also when compared to other cities - one of the top cities on the east coast to ride in, i believe.
as for drivers ignoring bike lanes, that won't be remedied by staying off of your bike, but by riding in the lanes, joining advocacy groups, etc.
my parenthetical comment was the main fodder for your rebuttal?
hm.
i didn't blame the union or the workers--i always thought it was the management's fault, and now i KNOW it is. i hope they don't strike because i certainly don't want to walk the 24-30 blocks to work and from work, but i would certainly understand if they did. no sick days? no overtime? no maternity leave? no prescription or dental coverage? AND managment isn't affected? that's what bothers me the most--if it was each and every single SEPTA employee being affected, from the ticket dude on the R5 to the president/ceo/whatever, that would be one thing. but since it's only the 'low' people, that's complete bullshit.
maybe they wouldn't be so surly if they didn't have shit jobs with shit pay and shit benefits.
I think it is hard to easily pin a blame on either side here, but it should be noted that Nicole's opinions are essentially a parroting of the views expressed by Young Philly Politics. The writer on that site does not provide any sources for his analyis, which may or may not be true, but it is important to note his credentials:
"Fabricio Rodriguez is the Director of Philadelphia Jobs with Justice a coalition of 53 labor unions, community groups, faith and student organizations."
He's a union rep and most of his analyis is tangentially related to the issue at hand with this strike.
So lets be careful about where we get our opinions and try to read from both sides of the story.
There are a lot of people who work jobs without any healthcare benefits at all. SEPTA drivers do get paid losts of $$$. Not as much as SEPTA Management to be sure but it is better than working at Rite Aid or other min wage gigs. I worked as a housing counselor and only made $20 k a year and had to pay for my healthcare costs, which weren't cheap.