The steady drip, drip, drip of signs and portents leaking out of this week’s round of negotiations between SEPTA and its biggest union have finally ended in a press conference that fills me with despair for entirely non-strike-related reasons.
The key bit is this: There will not be a strike next Monday. Election Day on Tuesday will go undisrupted. The earliest plausible date for a walkout is Monday, November 10th. And it is increasingly unclear whether we will actually go through a strike at all.
All day today, various Democratic officials were letting it be known that they had talked to TWU 234 and asked the union to keep talking through Election Day. If lower-ranking officials were making those calls, you know that Democratic City Committee Chair Bob Brady was working the phones hard, whether directly or indirectly. In any event, while we may never be privy to the exact details, we do know that it worked. In fact anonymous TWU sources being quoted in the media have begun waving giant flags that the union wants tensions cooled down, at least for now.
The parade of political posturing climaxed at the evening press conference, where State Senator (and a likely next Mayor of Philadelphia) Anthony Williams, who announced progress in the negotiations would mean at least a week’s reprieve, described the deal as “85% done”. That, of course, is a meaningless statement, which is in stiff competition with itself as to whether it is more abusive of mathematics or the English language. And it’s not the first time we’ve heard the charm offensive either: a deal was described as “close” not long after the contracts expired in April.
But even if the new rhetorical tone is more about allowing workers to save face even while they remain on the job, than it is about an agreement being imminent, I’ll still take it. There is no upside for anyone to allow the vitriolic brinksmanship that marked last Sunday’s strike authorization vote to continue. And TWU is still in a weak position.
Sic Transit Philadelphia 