Philly Transit Strike and the Election

The Transit Workers Union is on strike in Philadelphia. Their contract expired November 1 and the have many legitimate beefs, including over scheduling and health care. Some are worried that this could impact the presidential election, depressing voter turnout in Philadelphia on Tuesday from those relying on public transportation in that city, i.e., Clinton voters.

SEPTA, the region’s public transportation authority, and members of TWU 234, a union belonging to the AFL-CIO, failed to come to an agreement on a new contract. Horwitz said the primary disagreements focused on the scheduling of workers, who he said were frequently not given adequate time to eat, rest between shifts or take bathroom breaks.

In addition to the issues over scheduling, the union is fighting to raise the cap of workers’ pensions and secure affordable health care. The timing of the strike is unrelated to the election and is tied to contracts that expired between the two sides at midnight last night.

A press representative from SEPTA spoke to ABC News by phone but declined to elaborate on a statement made to the press last night regarding the strikes. In it, SEPTA expressed hope that an agreement could be reached between the two sides by Nov. 8.

“We are hopeful that a tentative agreement will be reached before Election Day. If we foresee an agreement will not come to pass, SEPTA intends to seek to enjoin the strike for Nov. 8 to ensure that the strike does not prevent any voters from getting to the polls and exercising their right to vote,” the statement said.

And let’s be clear: Despite what SEPTA leaders are saying, this is totally timed to maximize their leverage. When would the workers have more leverage to force the government to do the right thing? What better opportunity than a tight election with an unimaginably horrible president potentially brought to power because Philadelphia voters couldn’t get to the polls? You might say that this is a bad thing. But unions are about extending worker power. And this is how you do it.

Ed Rendell’s response is to call for the state legislature to take away SETPA’s strike rights, using nakedly partisan reasons to do so, which to say the least is the wrong answer. The right answer is for the city and the state to give the workers what they want. The election may ride on it. Time for Tom Wolf to step in and potentially save the nation from Trump.