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Ed, my read on this situation is that this is not a failure of Rendell’s or Nutter’s, for that matter; this is an instance of Union bullying. Here’s this morning’s Inky:

A tentative agreement to end the strike by SEPTA workers collapsed in acrimony yesterday, leaving prospects slim for a quick resolution to the six-day walkout.

Gov. Rendell, who tried to broker a settlement, blamed the leadership of Transport Workers Union Local 234 for the breakdown and called for a direct vote by union members on the proposed contact. If such a vote isn’t taken by tomorrow, the governor said, he will withdraw nearly $7 million in state funding offered to pay for worker bonuses.

What’s that? $7 million in WORKER BONUSES???? I hope Rendell is serious when he says it comes off the table if there is no vote tomorrow. Here’s Brown about taking that vote directly to the Union members:

“We’re not going to take it to a vote,” he said. “For the same reason the president of the United States would not bypass Congress and go directly to the people.” He dismissed Rendell’s demand as an effort to divide the union.

Referring to Rendell’s vow to withdraw the state funding, Brown said, “I am not for sale.”

Right. Because Obama does not have nearly the leverage with the general public as a whole as he does to those wimps representing us in congress. We read you loud and clear, Willie.

Here’s Nutter and Rendell responding:

Rendell, who described himself as “entirely frustrated,” called the failure to reach an agreement “nuts,” and said he had “never seen anything like it in 32 years in government.”

Nutter echoed Rendell’s call for a vote on the proposed contract: “I agree with the governor – the members would vote for this deal. It’s a good deal.”

It does look like a good deal:

The proposed five-year contract would have provided a $1,250 bonus upon ratification, a 2.5 percent raise in the second year, and a 3 percent raise in each of the final three years. It would have increased workers’ contributions to the pension fund from the current 2 percent to 3.5 percent and would have increased the maximum pension to $30,000 a year from the current $27,000.

The union, which represents about 5,100 bus drivers, subway and trolley operators, and mechanics making an average of about $52,000 a year, went on strike at 3 a.m. Tuesday.

So why did it fall apart?

Brown said that he had agreed to a settlement only in principle and that late “smoothing” by SEPTA of financial details had upended the deal. Rendell and SEPTA officials said the union at the last minute had asked for nine changes in the proposed agreement that would have increased costs by $7 million.

(…)

Rendell said the union made new demands yesterday after a handshake agreement with U.S. Rep. Bob Brady (D., Pa.) was announced Friday. The new requests included an independent audit of the SEPTA pension plan, which the union says is underfunded and mismanaged.

The Union wants it’s own audit of the fund, which they say they will pay for; they say since they will now be paying more into their pension that they have a right to know where that money is going. The fund is already independently audited every year and there are two union members on the pension board. So here’s what I dont get: If part of the Union’s demands were to increase the pension contributions, why the last minute demand for the audit? Why was this the sticking point that made the deal fall apart? There may be more to this than meets the eye:

The union has made the health of the pension fund a central issue in the strike. The SEPTA pension fund for TWU workers is funded at about 53 percent of total liabilities, compared with 65 percent for the SEPTA managers’ pension fund.

Union leaders have said the fund has been mismanaged and underfunded for years and is at risk of not being able to meet its obligated pension payouts in the future. SEPTA officials say the fund is sound and has always met its pension obligations.

SEPTA officials said the union was already involved in management of the fund, as it has two representatives on the eight-member board that oversees the fund. Brown said the members were not permitted to vote; SEPTA said they were allowed to.

SEPTA general manager Joseph Casey called the pension audit request a red herring. He said all the pension board members, including the union representatives, had access to an independent annual audit by national actuarial firm Milliman Inc.

Brady said the union’s audit demand “is just purely the trust factor.”

“They don’t trust SEPTA on this,” he said, adding that he was disappointed the deal broke down but would keep working to resolve the matter. “It’s a shame. It’s just a shame.”

I reiterate my earlier thoughts: the Union is tone deaf. This is a good deal, especially in these economic times. This is not a failure of government leaders; it’s unreasonableness on the part of the Union.

Get back to work.

 

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