SEPTA STRIKE 11/8

PHILADELPHIA- A student from Drexel University lost his job due to failure to show up for the first day. The student was relying on the SEPTA subway system to get him between his bartending job at Dave and Bubsters and Drexel campus.

-Marc S. Witkin can be reached at tub46563@temple.edu

septa news post #4

I am currently watching Fox 29 News at 10 and they are currently doing a segment on SEPTA. They are interviewing a criminal law student who walks over an hour to class here at temple. She also has to walk 3 miles to work in order to pay for tuition. The most recent meeting to dicuss the contract ended. Rendell presented them with an ultimatum, he wants them to vote on the contract by monday, but nothing has been decided in regards to that. If they don't vote he will take 7 million from the payroll. So now a whole new week comes, with no end in site. With so much unemployment, who could this possibly help? I guess you could say the eagle fans felt the stress tonight?

Adjusting Lives and Schedules

Many servers at the Cheesecake Factory in King of Prussia had to give up their shifts today or swap work stations with other servers in order to catch a ride back to the city after work. SEPTA strike has left many people with no means to get to work and back and has forced employees drastically change their lives, schedules, and income. Servers complained that they lose a lot of money by not being able to make it to work or by buying gas when they have already purchased bus passes.

Train never shows

Passengers of the R3 rail line waited all morning just to have their train never show. Some passengers had been there for over 2 hours. By the 9:00 the entire platform was crowded with angry people waiting on their train.

Day Six: Still A Standoff

There was a planned protest against the strike today at 1 p.m. on Market Street that largely seems to have fallen through. Anger against the striking workers, however, seems to be persisting, even if the protest never really manifested.

My guess would be that most of the anger toward the striking workers is rooted in several factors:

• The strike directly affects the everyday lives of people since there aren't any alternative public transportation services
• The context of the strike occurring during a period of economic downturn and large levels of unemployment
• The perception of the union as 'aggressor' -- TWU initiated the strike and turned down Septa's contract offers.
• High profile figures (such as Gov. Rendell) have condemned the strike.

The Cost of SEPTA

I found this graph on philly.com. I think it helps demonstrate how much of a stake everyone has in the SEPTA strike. I think it would be interesting to see a graph of how this money is distributed among the people who work for SEPTA, that would help us understand why union workers are so upset about their pay.

I talked to a few people yesterday about how they were affected by the strike. The two sisters that I spoke to told me about how difficult it was to get to their jobs and the school classes (one was in high school, the other in college), I think their quotes will be part of my final SEPTA article.

After Negotations Gov Rendell Says "I'm out"

As of last night, negotiations fell through between the local 234 union and government officials. Rendell believes a vote she be made, and will withdrawal the $7 Million in state funding that was offered to pay for worker bonuses.Mayor Nutter agreed with Governor Ed Rendell in that there should be a vote that depicts the details on the contract. "We're not going to take it to a vote," Willie Brown, Local 234 Union President said. "For the same reason the president of the United States would not bypass Congress and go directly to the people."