Getty Images/William Thomas Cain

PHILADELPHIA, October 31—Members of Transport Workers Union Local 234 picket outside bus depot of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA). The 5,300 bus, subway, and trolley operators, along with 320 members of United Transportation Union Local 1594, struck early this morning to defend health-care benefits.

In a cynical public campaign, SEPTA and government officials argue: more and more workers are being forced to pay for medical coverage, so why shouldn’t transit workers do the same? Pennsylvania governor Edward Rendell, a Democrat, told the workers that anyone who thinks they won’t have to pay health-care premiums “better move to Mars or some other country.” Workers began picketing at 12:01 a.m., after a year of contract extensions and a breakdown in negotiations.

—OSBORNE HART