Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Pennsylvania Turnpike Workers Go On Strike...
The 2,000 turnpike toll collectors and staff of Pennsylvania Teamsters Locals 250 and 77 went on strike this morning.
The following is the joint statement from the unions regarding their reasons for striking:
It is truly unfortunate that after fourteen months of negotiations, last night at 5:00 P.M. Pennsylvania Turnpike officials arrogantly informed us that they were not interested in discussing our recent comprehensive proposal to settle the contract and avoid a strike. Instead, they insisted that our members just accept the Turnpike's terms.
The Turnpike's strategy in negotiations has been to offer our members less in each successive proposal. This is clearly not good faith bargaining and clearly not in the best interest of the traveling public or our hard-working members. In fact, the Turnpike's strategy seems designed to provoke a strike.
The dedicated Turnpike employees that we represent are very frustrated and angry over the Commission's approach in bargaining. They have been without a contract since October 1, 2003 and without a pay increase for over two years. Their resentment and anger only increased upon learning that the Commission refused to consider retroactive pay in our negotiations and had been awarding pay increases of over 4% every six months to the non-Union staff.
The Turnpike's refusal to address the legitimate concerns of our members and their arrogant approach to negotiations left our members with no alternative but to exercise their right to strike. We truly regret the inconvenience to the traveling public, but everyone should remember that we were left with no realistic alternatives. Our members were forced to fight for their own and their families' economic security.
I support the union and will keep their info posted on my site until their dispute is settled.
And if you're traveling the PA Turnpike this holiday weekend, you're riding for free, baby!!!
|
