Strike shuts down Philly public transport a week before election

Thousands of public transport workers in the US city of Philadelphia have gone on strike after failing to reach a contract agreement with authorities, raising fears of voting problems just a week before Election Day.

A union representing more than 4,700 transit workers began the strike at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, shutting down public transportation to nearly 900,000 people who use the service daily.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, known as SEPTA, said the strike would affect all subways, buses and trolleys in Philadelphia.

SEPTA and the Transit Workers Union Local 234 have been negotiating pension reform, health care and wage improvements among other issues, the union said on its website.

"Our membership voted to go on strike if we did not reach a new agreement by midnight on October 31," said Willie Brown, who heads the union’s negotiating team.

"Despite months of constructive and innovative proposals from our side of the table, management has refused to budge on key issues including safety issues that would save lives and not cost SEPTA a dime. There is no new agreement, so we are on strike," he added.

City officials are concerned that the strike will drag on to Election Day, causing problems for potential voters who plan to use public transport to go to polling sites on November 8.

The strike will also affect around 60,000 public, private and charter school students who use SEPTA services. Many schools, as well as businesses and hospitals had already begun to draw contingency plans in preparation for a strike as of Monday night.

A spokesman for Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf issued a statement urging both sides to reach a resolution to avoid “extreme hardships for the city and for businesses.”

“Hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvania residents rely on SEPTA to travel each day to and from work and school,” the spokesperson said. “The inability of TWU and SEPTA to reach an agreement is devastating for many of these individuals and their families.”

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