Philadelphia’s Transit Workers Union Local 234 faced an immense struggle over the last nine months culminating in a heated weeklong battle against the members’ employer, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. The union members remained united and steadfast, as they were able to gain a bigger slice of SEPTA’s hoarded funds.
After working for nine months without a contract, SETPA workers achieved a four-year contract with annual pay increases of 3.75 percent. Furthermore, the workers were able to stave off deep budget cuts that would have required them to pay more for their high-cost, low-benefit health plans. The union’s victory is impressive given the ways in which corporate power stacked the odds against them.
SEPTA management received unfettered support from the local corporate media—especially the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News—as well as from Mayor Michael Nutter and Governor Ed Rendell.
Media sought to pit riding public against the workers
The local media became the staunchest allies of SEPTA management by employing the classic bourgeois technique of attempting to divide the working class. The Inquirer and Daily News framed the issue as a conflict pitting the riding public, mostly made up of working-class Philadelphians, against the transit workers. The newspapers sought to direct working-class anger and frustration from the transportation stoppage directly at the SEPTA workers.
The reports drove home the notion that SEPTA workers already made more money than a great many of Philadelphia’s working class; further demands made by the union were considered greedy and frivolous. The publications failed to bring out even the slightest comparison between SEPTA workers and SEPTA management, where the latter makes up to $200,000 annually with paid-in-full benefits. The papers also failed to allude to the fact that the entire working class faces exploitation at the hands of employers in all sectors of the economy. SEPTA workers are only able to lessen the burden of capitalist exploitation because of their strong union and collective action.
The area politicians, notably Mayor Nutter and Governor Rendell, stood by their bourgeois counterparts in the assault on the striking transit workers. The media coverage falsely portrayed Nutter and Rendell as neutral observers trying to broker a fair deal. Statements offered by the two Democratic politicians were aimed directly at SEPTA workers; their implications were clear: The workers were greedy and unreasonable for not accepting the generous offers of the benevolent bosses.
Now the capitalist class is using the frustration about the strike to try to pass legislation making it illegal for transit workers to strike.
Transit strikes are undoubtedly difficult for working-class people, many of whom rely on public transit to get to work and school. Management does everything it can to blame the workers, but in reality it was the intransigence of management that forced the union to strike.
Rather than fall for the bosses’ attempts to divide the working class, the best thing workers can do during a transit strike is to stand with their brothers and sisters in the union. Standing up against cutbacks and fighting for wage increases raises the standard and benefits everyone in the working class, especially those who work for lower wages than the transit workers.
The new branch of the Party for Socialism and Liberation in Philadelphia mobilized to support the strike by going to the picket line and by leafleting the general public with this message.
The SEPTA strike should serve as a rallying call to the entire working class of Philadelphia. Stand together and fight all exploitation!
