Septa Strike in Suburbs Too!

Apparently, the Septa strike spread beyond the city limits this morning. The Inky is reporting that the TWU was picketing buses that run through places like Upper Darby and Drexel. Governor Rendell said he's meeting with Union leaders.

I've heard a lot of people recently describing demands for a raise as the core of the issue. However, having been involved in a union/employer dispute over the summer in which the employer framed the union as greedy, when in reality the union was only seeking to temper some of the steeper cuts to benefits, I realize how misleading word-of-mouth can be. This article from the Philadelphia Business Journal describes the main Septa complaint as relating to the pension plan, and Septa's misfunding of the plan (though Septa obviously disagrees with the union's assessment). Take from it what you will, it seems to me to be the more likely rationale for the strike than simply higher wages.

-Michael Gaudini