Letters: The readers rate SEPTA vs. the union

MY PARENTS are union members, and I grew up with a strong union support mentality. I found myself wondering why I was so angry at SEPTA, and why I wasn't backing the union in getting a livable contract.

I understood instantly, as Stu Bykofsky pointed out, that the public derision and scathing media attacks were based on jealousy and not rational thought. The strike didn't even particularly affect me - I'm one of your hated Center City cyclists. I finally realized why I didn't find myself supporting the strikers: Union labor is supposed to be a two-way street, quality labor for a living wage.

Part of why I bicycle year round is because of how much I detest SEPTA. My blood pressure rises every time I give them money. Certainly most of it is how they're run and their management, but a lot of it is their employees. They're horrendous. They're rude. They have no understanding of customer service. They flat out often don't do their jobs. (When was the last time you heard a bus driver announce a stop if the automated system wasn't there?)

It's hard to grow up in the Philly area and feel any sympathy for the union. If they did their part, despite poor management, I would have felt differently, but I found myself rooting for scab labor in hopes it might be quasi-competent.

Aaron Olk, Philadelphia

In an age when the common man's wages are rapidly declining at an alarming rate, it is more than appropriate for unions to fight bare knuckles. In fact, it is exactly the right time!

I was amazed at how many "working stiffs" were angry that the union fought for a fair contract.

But Byko was on point, it was jealousy. Instead of getting mad that the man just like you is getting a dollar more, why not direct it at those who are keeping your wages down? Who are using the economy as an excuse for pure greed?

I also felt the media was very unfair in the coverage, as usual. Wall Street titans pillage and the media ignores it. Blue-collar workers strike and the coverage becomes intense and biased.

Alan Harris

West Conshohocken

Stu, every dollar that goes to pay or pensions to a public-sector worker comes from a worker in the private sector. A SEPTA worker retiring now and starting his pension contributed 10 percent of the cost of the pension.

Workers in the private sector, who don't have a pension, contributed 90 percent of the SEPTA workers' pension. How is that fair?

Society doesn't work well when public-sector jobs pay more and have better benefits than those in the private sector. More and more labor is directed to the public sector, which leads to a drain in public finances. The higher the percentage of total jobs that come from the private sector, the better the economy. The lower the percentage, the worse.

Ian Griffiths, Philadelphia