BY PETE SEIDMAN
PHILADELPHIA - At noon on June 1, the 5,300 members of Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 234 here shut down the SEPTA buses, trolleys, and subways used daily by 435,000 people in the country's fifth-largest city.

SEPTA is the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority.

Within a few hours, the strength of the strike was evident throughout the city. Crawling rush hour traffic and long lines and delays on overburdened suburban rail lines showed the power of the TWU's answer to demands by the Democratic administration of Mayor Edward Rendell and SEPTA, which were clearly aimed at forcing a strike.

The city adminstration hopes it can deepen its antilabor offensive by moving from the negotiating table to a strike, where it will attempt to isolate and defeat the union.

The strikers are battling SEPTA's efforts to deepen a two- tier wage setup, use part-time workers, restrict workers compensation, contract out work, and undermine seniority and other union rights.

The TWU organized four rallies during the first two days of the strike. On June 1 hundreds of strikers and supporters marched to City Hall, where they held a rally. Later that afternoon, barred from protesting on federal property, strikers picketed across the street from the Liberty Bell, where Rendell was hobnobbing with visiting politicians.

Angry strikers chanted "No contract, no peace," "Local 234: ready for war," and "Ed Rendell, Go to Hell!"

The next day at 5:00 a.m., unionists set up picket lines outside the bus barn in Upper Darby from where SEPTA operates its suburban Victory-Red Arrow division. Red Arrow's 280 drivers are members of United Transportation Union Local 1594. They approved a separate contract with SEPTA in April. But Victory-Red Arrow mechanics are TWU members who are now on strike.

SEPTA immediately sought and received a court injunction against the TWU limiting the size of its picket lines and barring any attempts to block Victory-Red Arrow service.

Strikers continued their protests the night of June 2 at the Franklin Institute, where Rendell and other administration officials were again wining and dining other capitalist politicians. To military cadence, they chanted, "Ed Rendell is going down, Philly is a labor town!"

SEPTA bosses, the Rendell administration, and the big- business media immediately launched a high-pitched campaign aimed at isolating the strike in public opinion and dealing heavy blows to the TWU.

High-pitched campaign against union
SEPTA published a full-page "Dear Rider" advertisement June 2 in the city's big-business dailies. "We regret that you have become the innocent victim of this strike and appreciate your patience and support as we work for resolution," the ad begins. "You are walking today because the Transport Workers Union Local 234 rejected a contract framework designed to help modernize your system while at the same time improve pay and retirement benefits for our employees."

SEPTA claims its final offer "would have been enthusiastically embraced by union members" had the TWU leadership permitted them to vote on it. "It is a shame," the ad says, "that the TWU chose to shut down the City Transit Division and idle nearly a half million riders rather than agree to help create a drug-free workplace, reform a Workers' Compensation system run amok, and work rules that now stifle productivity and escalate operating costs."

The day before, SEPTA spokesperson Stephan Rosen complained that "the people that are going to get hurt the most here once again are the 40 percent of households in Philadelphia that don't own a car."

In a June 2 front-page article, the Philadelphia Inquirer echoed this propaganda: "About 31,000 city residents - people recently removed from welfare rolls after getting jobs or training to leave public assistance - felt the strike's effects keenly. In addition, the city's elderly, who account for about 50,000 rides a day, were suddenly immobile."

In the lead editorial the same day, the Inquirer complained of "less-than-convincing union grievances" and warned that a long strike might "bite workers whose future depends on the region's financial health and SEPTA's ridership support." The editors concluded that while "workers might get some public sympathy for their fears of a major shift to part-time help.... union leaders can't count on public support for a long strike if they refuse to budge on antiquated work rules while sniffing at a decent wage package."

Striking workers on the picket lines and at the rallies were confident, well-informed, and assertive in explaining the scope of the attack on workers' rights that SEPTA's "final" contract would really mean.

Attempt to extend two-tier wage system
Ed Finegan, with 12 years as an underground power maintenance worker, blasted SEPTA's attempt to deepen divisions by starting new workers at 60 percent of top pay. Finegan explained that "when I got hired in 1986 it took me 36 months to reach full rate. Now SEPTA wants to extend that to eight years."

Finegan also criticized SEPTA's proposal to bring in part- time workers. He opposed making any worker a "second-class citizen."

Kevin Hower, a mechanic with 12 year's service, was costumed in a prison uniform and dragging a plastic ball and chain, carrying a poster with highlighted clippings from SEPTA's rejected proposal. Hower explained that under the guise of "reforming" workers compensation, SEPTA is demanding the right to fire a worker who has been off after an on-the-job injury for more than six months.

SEPTA officials repeatedly speak to the media about alleged workers comp cheats and "malingerers and deadbeats." But several workers told the Militant about serious accidents caused by the dangerous working conditions and antiquated equipment they are forced to use. Mark Crupi, a track maintenance worker whose leg was crushed by a 1,300- pound rail, was out of work for nine months.

Hower explained that SEPTA wants the right to "sublet any work or service or use volunteers, employees of private businesses, or other governmental agencies to perform any SEPTA work."

`Management rights' vs. union rights
Local 234 vice president Jean Alexander has been a trolley driver for 21 years. She blasted SEPTA's proposed new "zero tolerance drug policy." "The federal law already specifies an unacceptable level for drugs and alcohol. Who is SEPTA to set a lower standard? If you use mouthwash, two hours later you'd flunk. Even if you belch from a drink the night before you could flunk! We don't condone operators using drugs or driving drunk. No. But drivers in sensitive jobs are already randomly tested. SEPTA now wants to extend this to everyone and with no second chance."

Strikers also objected to the new "management rights" clause in SEPTA's proposed contract. The clause says "SEPTA would be free to assign work to any employee in any manner it decides, shut down any work, routes, depots, or operations; to subcontract any work or services; and take whatever action it decides is in the best interest of the Authority."

Workers said the onus for this strike was fully on SEPTA. They worked for two and a half months without a new contract to see if SEPTA would budge, but the employer refused.

Nancy Cole, the Socialist Workers candidate for U.S. Congress in Philadelphia's First District, launched her campaign by joining the TWU's protests on the first day of the strike. Cole, a member of the International Association of Machinists at USAirways, said that "the stakes in this battle are high for working people throughout this country. Despite their hypocritical claims to defend the interests of workers and the Black community, the fare-raisers and service-cutters in the Rendell administration and SEPTA are actually out to gut public transportation." To do this, they need to deal a blow to the union, she noted.

"My campaign calls for maximum solidarity with these workers who are standing up for all of us!" the socialist candidate declared.

Pete Seidman is a member of the United Auto Workers. Rebecca Arenson, a member of the International Association of Machinists, contributed to this article.  
 
 
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