SEPTA Strike, Day 4: What Now?

SEPTA commuters wait in line at Suburban Station during rush hour. | Photo by Dan McQuade

The good news is that the week is almost over. Most likely all that’s left in your week of hellish commutes is one more trip home and then you’re done for two days. Or maybe you don’t have a Monday-Friday work schedule. Your commutes over the next two days should still be much better than they’ve been this week. It’s Friday. Exhale.

There’s more good news, too. SEPTA and Transit Workers Union Local 234 traded barbs over the past 36 hours, which means they’ve gotten that out of their system. The two sides have been negotiating again.

But the rest of it is bad news.

SEPTA says it is “beyond frustrated” with Local 234’s strike negotiators, while school attendance is down massively. Though progress was made on pension issues, the two sides seem far from a deal.

So what’s next? SEPTA and the union will keep talking, maybe even keep trading barbs through press releases. Buckle in, because next up SEPTA will have to make a decision: At the start of the strike, SEPTA said it would attempt to get an injunction to suspend the strike on Election Day. That’s just three days away.

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