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SEPTA police are on strike. Here’s what you need to know for your commute.

SEPTA has been in discussion with the Fraternal Order of Transit Police Lodge 109, which represents transit police officers, since April. Salary is a major sticking point in negotiations.

Strike signs at a news conference announcing that SEPTA transit police are on strike in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023.
Strike signs at a news conference announcing that SEPTA transit police are on strike in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023.Read moreElizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

SEPTA’s transit police walked off the job on Wednesday night amid months of contract negotiations.

The agency has been in discussion with the Fraternal Order of Transit Police Lodge 109, which represents transit police officers, since April but has yet to reach an agreement on a new contract for workers.

SEPTA’s workforce is represented by at least 14 bargaining units, and many are already in negotiations with the agency or will be in the coming months for new contracts. The discussions are occurring at a time when SEPTA anticipates facing an annual $240 million deficit in its operating budget starting in 2024.

Will SEPTA Transit Police go on strike?

The transit police officers’ contract expired on March 31, and negotiations between SEPTA and the Fraternal Order of Transit Police Lodge 109 have not yet reached a new agreement. The two parties have been negotiating since April and have had 13 formal negotiating sessions prior to this weekend. A state mediator joined the process in September, according to SEPTA.

Union members voted in October to authorize a walkout if necessary. Members voted to strike on Wednesday evening after union leadership put the authority’s latest offer before the members without recommending support.

Will SEPTA bus, trolley and train service be impacted?

Service on SEPTA will not be disrupted if a strike occurs. The agency has said that in the case of a strike, the transit system would be patrolled by 60 nonunionized transit police supervisors with help from the Pennsylvania State Police and Philadelphia Police Department, as well as officers from other agencies in the five-counties SEPTA operates in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Who would be on strike?

About 170 transit patrol and special unit police officers.

Will Regional Rail be impacted?

No.

Would a strike impact paratransit?

No.

Why would SEPTA Transit police strike?

The transit police union is asking for higher wages. Members have said they want wages that are on par with those that police officers receive in other departments in the region. According to the union, pay disparity is contributing to the staffing shortage it is facing. There are about 170 transit patrol officers, which is about 25% below its authorized size, according to Omari Bervine, president of FOTP Lodge 109.

How much are SEPTA Transit Police paid?

The average salary for a SEPTA Police officer, including overtime, is $115,570 annually, according to the agency.

The current average rate is $37.07 an hour, which is a 21.3% increase since March 2022 due to increases in schedules and raises awarded in June of that year.

The base salary for an officer’s first year on the job is $64,570. That base salary increases to $85,618 in their 25th year on the job.

According to sources familiar with the negotiations, the union is asking for the same amount of money that was given to SEPTA’s largest bargaining unit, the Transport Workers Local 234, earlier this month in a one-year contract. In the past, SEPTA has used contracts reached with TWU to set a template for deals with other unions.

SEPTA’s current proposal to the transit police force is “in line” with that agreement, according to Septa’s CEO, Leslie S. Richards. It includes a 13% wage increase spread out over three years, a $3,000 signing bonus if a strike is averted, and a retention bonus of $2,500 for officers eligible for retirement.

FOTP president says in the TWU agreement, members get the money “up-front” while the proposal for transit police is backloaded. The union wants the money weighted towards keeping younger officers from leaving the agency to work elsewhere, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.

Jeremy Crimmel, the economist for the union, said it would cost SEPTA just $650,000 over three years to give to give the transit officers the same wage increases given last month to SEPTA’s largest bargaining unit, Transport Workers Union Local 234, which represents bus, trolley, and transit train operators, among others mechanics and others.

How likely is a strike?

The union offered to avoid a strike if SEPTA agreed to voluntary binding arbitration, but that’s a nonstarter, said Andrew Busch, a spokesperson for the agency.

“We don’t want to strike but will if we have to,” has said Bervine last month. “We’re just looking to get a fair deal, not less than what you’ve already given your other employees.”

When was the last time SEPTA’s transit officers went on strike?

The transit officers walked out in 2019 for six days. One of the issues at hand was whether members could review body-camera footage before filing incident reports. SEPTA’s policy barred officers from doing so, which could put them in the position of unintentionally making contradictory statements in their incident reports from what was filmed on camera, according to Bervine at the time.

Besides 2019, when have SEPTA workers gone on strike?

SEPTA is known as one of the most strike-prone large transit systems in the country.

Since 1975, stoppages have also occurred among different SEPTA workers in 1975, 1977, twice in 1981, 1982, 1983, twice in 1986, 1995, 1998, 2005, 2009 and 2016.

What is the longest strike in SEPTA history?

In 1983, a strike affected Regional Rail service for 108 days.