Report: SEPTA, Union Making Progress on a Deal

Action News is reporting SEPTA and Transit Workers Union Local 234, the transit agency’s largest union, are making progress toward a deal. A source told Channel 6 the sides are “getting close.”

SEPTA’s union voted unanimously to authorize a strike on Sunday, and TWU President Willie Brown said Monday he wouldn’t make a decision on when to strike until late in the week.

Brown previously said a strike was a matter of “when” — not “if.” But he also said Monday that, if the sides got close to a deal this week, he would not order SEPTA workers to go on strike. He also promised to give a 24-hour notice to riders before any strike.

There are 4,700 workers in TWU Local 234. The union last went on strike in 2009 in a “surprise” strike at 3 a.m. on a Tuesday morning.

TWU Local 234 also recently produced a video — titled “Do You Wonder Why The Rich Are Getting Richer, While The Rest Of Us Are Falling Behind?” — encouraging people to vote for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf on Tuesday.

“Let’s get this video to go viral,” Willie Brown wrote.