The Man Who Brought Philadelphia to Its Knees

The SEPTA strike, according to Willie Brown.

by Jeffrey C. Billman and Isaiah Thompson

Jessica Kourkounis

Almost overnight, Willie Brown, the "bullet-shaped" — as Philadelphia Inquirer scribe Jeff Gammage described him — bombastic, unapologetic, strike-leading president of the Transport Workers Union Local 234, rocketed from obscurity to near-ubiquity in the worst way possible. Editorials mocked him. Columnists skewered him. Commuters cursed him. Online commentators made the above look like a fan club.

Brown didn't seem to mind; in retrospect, he says he wasn't paying much attention. The "most hated man in Philadelphia," as Brown christened himself, presided over a strike despite contract offers from SEPTA management that seemed, to many an angry, recession-stricken SEPTA patron, overly generous in the first place. He didn't flinch, he didn't back down and, for the most part, he didn't care. And he won. At least, he claimed victory. (The union will vote to formally ratify the contract Nov. 20.) He may be reviled. But Brown says he'd do it all over again, whether you hate him or not.

Since the union boss said so little to the press during the strike, we thought it was high time to find out why. On Nov. 12, City Paper sat with Brown for nearly two hours inside his North Second Street offices. In person, Brown comes across as affable, polite and 100 percent steadfast in his conviction that he did the right thing. While he occasionally waxed idealistic —allusions to Martin Luther King and the U.S. Constitution came up — his position was simple: His job is to get from SEPTA as much for his members as possible. Period. The end.

The following interview is not meant to be a fair and balanced look at the strike's merits. Nor is it an attempt to either lionize or vilify the union boss at the heart of it. Rather, it's a chance to hear a side of the story you probably haven't heard, straight from the proverbial horse's mouth, and edited only for clarity, space and grammar.

THE BUILDUP

The Transport Workers Union Local 234 threatened to strike at the most inconvenient time imaginable: Not only did the threatened strike date — midnight, Oct. 31 — coincide with the Phillies' two home World Series games, but also an Eagles home game, a Flyers home game, the last show at the Spectrum and assorted Halloween weekend festivities. A strike then would have been, in a word, disastrous.

City Paper: Now that the strike is over, tell us your version of it. What's the narrative you'd like the public to hear?

Willie Brown: The strike is what it was. It was a fight for the working-class people. It was a fight for my members' pension plans, things of that sort. When you look at companies around the country whose pensions have folded, [workers]woke up one morning and didn't have any pensions. Our pension plan [is] funded at 53 percent — I had to take a stand on that. It's like sitting in your living room and you're watching TV and you smell smoke coming from the kitchen but you do nothing about it. Then you hear stuff burning in the kitchen and you do nothing about it. Then the next thing you know the whole house is engulfed in flames.

... Once we realized how much we would get from putting the extra [money into the pension fund], I started questioning. I realized that [money] was not going back to the members, it was going to pay for unfunded liabilities that they had from previous years that they never funded.

What compelled you to call a vote to authorize a strike the week before the Series?

Well, our contract expired March 15. And from March up until Oct. 25 [when the union authorized the strike], we were negotiating, trying to get a contract. And there was no movement whatsoever. As you know, the only tool we have to get movement is if we go on strike. I would have preferred to have gotten a contract back last September. But [SEPTA negotiators] decided that we had to play the game, we had to put the show on for the public. They believed that if we didn't put the show on for the public and we got a contract, SEPTA would look bad. ... Basically what was said — I'm not going to say who said it — but it was said [by] some of the negotiators, "Well, in order for us to get pressure on the board, or in order for us to get pressure for the contract, we have to do this dance."

By "do this dance," did this person mean you have to strike?

I don't think the person meant strike. I think what they meant was, make the public believe there was a possibility of a strike. And if there was not a possibility of a strike, anything that we receive from SEPTA would look like SEPTA was being too soft.

Did you use the World Series as leverage? Everyone assumes you did.

There's no way I could have predicted that the Phillies were going to be in the World Series. We already had the date set. So the fact that I didn't [strike during the Series] shows you that it wasn't a Phillies game that motivated us.

You were quoted saying, "We agreed not to strike during the World Series. We took people to the game because we are professionals. Now it's time to reward us."

Well, if somebody reported that [I said] we should get a reward because we didn't strike during the World Series, I would really like to know who that was, because I do have a lawyer. ... I never, ever, ever said anything about receiving an award for not going on strike during the World Series.

[Editor's note: The quote appeared in the Nov. 3 Daily News. Reporter Kitty Caparella tells City Paper in an e-mail: "We stand by our report. Brown made the remarks, in the heat of passion, at the Bellevue's rear door, after leaving SEPTA and announcing a 3 a.m. strike."]

So what you're saying is, not going on strike during the World Series, you don't view that as something you did as part of negotiations.

Absolutely not. ... Like I said, when we were going on strike at 12:01 [a.m. on Oct. 31], that was the date we had picked. [Gov. Ed Rendell] shows up, Congressman [Bob] Brady shows up, [Mayor Michael Nutter] shows up, and they ask me not to go. ... So basically, we waited and we did what we had to do. It had nothing to do with the World Series.

By: Jessica Kourkounis

THE BREAKDOWN

By Saturday afternoon, the crisis had been averted. The strike was off. Or so the papers told us. At a joint press conference, Brown and Rendell agreed that a contract was expected soon, and Nutter declared that Philadelphians "should all breathe a big sigh of relief." But negotiations weren't over — not by a long shot. Brown accuses Nutter of declaring the strike dead prematurely. Nutter spokesman Doug Oliver says Nutter was referring to an agreement which had been reached — that the TWU wouldn't strike during the Series.

What happened to the "handshake agreement"? What happened between Saturday afternoon and early Tuesday morning, when you went on strike?

Well, the first day, Saturday [Oct. 31], we talked, and I felt that we were getting somewhere. The second and third day, I think — because they thought, like you think, that we were focused on the World Series — that "OK, we convinced them not to strike during the World Series, now he won't strike." ...When we went down to the press conference, when Nutter went down to the microphone, he took it upon himself to say, "The strike is off the table." That hadn't ever been said. We were negotiating. He took it upon himself to be macho there. So what happened at that point in time, negotiations pretty much just shut down. They started playing hardball, and we were worse than we were before we went out.

When you say they started playing hardball, what does that mean?

What happened was, for example, they gave us a contract. And they said, "Here's our proposal," right? And we said OK; we gave them a counter-proposal. They came back and said, "We can't accept your counter-proposal because it's $16 million more expensive than the original proposal we gave you." So we said OK. We asked them to cross some things out. ... We said fine, we'll meet you halfway. Once we got down to, we thought, $3 million — they said $5 million — they stopped crossing things out. It was almost like it was an effort to force us out on strike. And what I believe isthat Mayor Nutter was not there to necessarily get a deal. He was there to make sure that we didn't get a deal that would actually impact the city negotiations [with its municipal unions]. [Nutter] got up and walked out the room, walked down toward SEPTA's room, came back, and everything broke down at that time. Nutter was the first one who came in and said, "Well. This is the last offer. We've got a decision to make."

At this point, what did you still have a problem with?

The way they had it written basically would allow them to ... if national health care passed, or if the legislation passed where [insurance companies] had to accept pre-existing conditions, and the health coverage went up, Blue Cross would then pass on [increased costs] to SEPTA, and then SEPTA would have the ability to pass it on to us, without sitting and negotiating. And we couldn't agree to that.

Describe what was going on as Game 5 wound down, in those hours that led to the strike.

As the game came to an end, the whole tone started to change from "let's talk" to "this is the way it's going to be." They actually portrayed it in the press that we jumped up and stormed out. We didn't jump up and storm out — it was almost a mutual agreement that there would be a strike. Once Nutter came in and said that this is the deal, y'all got a decision to make, we said, "We're bringing people home from the game, but as of 3 o'clock this morning, we're on strike." They said OK. We shook hands, they said thank you, I said thank you, we walked out, and they said y'all leave first because we have to gather our things. When we left, boom boom boom, we got stabbed in the back. ... They said the union stormed out, they abandoned the people.

Does public opinion matter to you?

I have to worry about my membership voting for me. Everybody in the city of Philadelphia can love me, but if my members aren't satisfied with me, I'll be the most popular, loved bus driver out on the street come next election. ... You have to understand something: Big business and the media have done a good job of turning people against each other. If you've got one individual who makes $7 an hour, and another that makes $15 an hour, the individual making $7 looks at the other guy and says, "He makes too much."

You yourself said you were "the most hated man in Philadelphia." Surely you understand that there are perceptions out there that the union is like the mafia.

I don't totally agree with that. When I walk into the store, even to this day, I see people, and they're not telling me I was wrong. If you just drive around looking for people who say negative things, then that's the image you're going to get. ... I was at the 7-Eleven with my grandson the other day, and there were people shaking my hand saying I did a good job.

But there were a lot of people who just didn't see it that way. They see that they couldn't get to work and had to figure out what to do with their kids.

I had to stand up for my membership. I don't make excuses for that. I don't make excuses for what my membership makes. I'm not apologetic for the benefits my membership gets. We've earned those benefits. But I can't worry about what the public says, I have to worry about what my members say. That's who I have to please.

THE STRIKE

Just after midnight on Tuesday, Nov. 3, Willie Brown walked out of negotiations at the Bellevue Hotel. Nutter and Rendell stayed behind and alerted the press that as of 3 a.m., the city's transit system would stop running. Thousands of residents woke up with no idea that they couldn't catch a bus to work.

Something that really angered the public was the timing of the strike. It was the middle of the night: Why?

I don't regret going on strike. I regret going on strike at that time. Maybe I could have — well, should have — given a little more notice. Things broke down, things happen. That's why they put erasers on pencils, people make mistakes.

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HALF OFF DEPOT

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Inky reporter Jeff Gammage quoted you saying that media coverage was "misleading" and "totally false."

Not all media. To be honest with you, during the strike I didn't listen to too muchmedia, too much radio. Because you would get depressed. I'm in the bed sleeping one morning. I wake up, I hear the lady on Fox [29] saying, "Does anybodyknow Willie Brown? Does anybody have his e-mail address?" They put my phone [number] on the radio. My brother called on the phone, he says, "You know I love you, but I need a new transmission in my car, so I called to see if they had a reward if I turned you in — but there was no reward."

What were some things you felt were not reported well?

[Reporters] would show up at the picket lines, and what they didn't report was that they would be chased off the picket lines. They had one guy, they treated him like he was in the witness protection program, covering his face and disguising his voice. And he said how he was dissatisfied with the strike or whatever. So they went out of their way to cause dissension.

[Brown argues that Rendell and Nutter tried to stir dissension among union members, as well.] [That] was a very good move on Rendell and others' parts. When they stood on TV and said, "Well, let's go past the [TWU] executive board and straight to the membership," I found that strange. When Gov. Rendell — I think they spent 100 days on the [state] budget. [Editor's note: The state was without a budget this summer for 101 days.] Why didn't he just ... bypass everyone in Harrisburg and just come right to the citizens? It's the same thing. If you look at our constitution and bylaws, it mirrors the U.S. Constitution. So if they attack our structure, they're basically attacking the structure of the United States. My job as an elected official is to see that the wording is just right. When you get into the particular wording of things, and I'm not satisfied with the wording, I'm not going to put it in front of my membership and expect them to dissect what it means.

Were you hearing from your membership? Did you get calls to end the strike?

No, I didn't get calls to end the strike. After [Rendell] laid the gauntlet down and said, "Put it to the membership," I did get calls from members who wanted to know what was in the contract. When I explained to them why I wasn't satisfied, they said go ahead, you take care of your business.

A lot of people feel like trolley drivers and bus drivers don't have jobs as hard as they do.

SEPTA's always hiring, and I encourage people to come over and work with us. But no, it's not easy. ... You have no family whatsoever. The divorce rate is very high. Our transplant level — like kidney transplant, heart transplant — is twice that of any other union our size.

Your union was picketing the 101 and 102 trolleys, as well as the Victory Bus Garage. These are operated by another union. Why were you picketing another union?

First of all, that wasn't an action that was sanctioned by us, No. 1. But No. 2, we do have mechanics there — it's another union, but the mechanics belong to us. ... [But] that wasn't something I planned. ... If you're on strike, you're on strike. All's fair in love and war.

When that R5 caught on fire, SEPTA sent out school buses to evacuate people from the train. SEPTA claims that because of your union's picket, that actually delayed the buses deploying for about an hour.

Well, I guess we're responsible for global warming also.

THE DEAL

For all the chaos, the contract offer that finally ended the strike was quite similar to the one the TWU rejected when it went on strike in the first place — the one Rendell called "sensational." The only significant change was in the contract's health care language; TWU fought off a proposal that might have allowed SEPTA to raise workers' contribution rates in the future. Union members will get a 2.5 percent raise in the contract's second year, and 3 percent in its final three years. Their health care contribution will stay at 1 percent of their base pay. They increased their pension contributions and benefits, and retained their $1,250 bonuses — in fact, Brown agreed to end the strike just a few hours after Rendell threatened to take the bonus money away. The TWU did not get SEPTA to submit to an external audit of its pension fund. Brown says he'll pursue legal remedies on that front.

For Brown, all of this was a dramatic improvement over SEPTA's reported initial offer: No wage increases for the contract's first two years, and 2 percent raises for years three and four; increasing TWU workers' health care contributions from 1 percent to 4 percent of their pay; and a freeze on pension benefits.

The deal didn't change that much during the strike. Was it worth it?

Absolutely, it was necessary, and if I went back I'd do it again. ... The health care piece itself made the whole strike worth it, No. 1. When you get into things like wages, we've got pretty good wages. We got pension increases. Even though that's not a done deal — we're still fighting on the pensions. But rather than keep people out, we decided to hire our own lawyers and take whatever steps necessary to make sure our pension is protected. ... We believe there's something over there that they are trying to hide. If you are doing everything by the books, why not agree to it, and let me stand with egg on my face? They can say, "Look, he brought his own auditor in here, there's nothing to it, and now there's egg on his face." [Editor's note: SEPTA declined to comment on specifics of the negotiations.]

You were quoted in the papers saying you were "not for sale." Yet it was very shortly after Rendell said he was taking away the $7 million in bonus money that you decided to end the strike.

There were two things we had a problem with: There was the health care and the pension plan. The health care language changed. The pension plan, we found a different way to deal with it. At that point, to try to carry the strike on would be to try to be macho, and to let my personal feelings get in the way of my professional judgment. My job was to get a contract. Did I want [Rendell] to leave and take that money away? Absolutely not.

You offered to go to binding arbitration to settle the strike.

We looked at arbitration for this time and this time only as a way of resolving the issue to get back service. We're very confident in our position.

A state lawmaker has proposed a law that would prohibit transit workers from striking.

Oh, it's not the first time something like that has happened. I don't think anything like that's going to pass.

THE FUTURE

Since 1977, TWU has gone on strike seven times out of nine contract negotiations. The strikes have been as short as four days (1986), and as long as 44 days (1977), and average about 19 days.

There's pretty much been a strike every time the contract is up, right?

Pretty much.

Can we just tell everyone there's going to be a strike every five years, and leave it at that? Is this all just a game?

It's not all a game. It's not like this is corporate America, where your boss says, "I'm going to give you a raise, I'm going to give you a pension raise." Take management — even with all the strikes we've had, they can't strike, but look at their contracts and at our contracts. We have to fight. That's the American way.

OH, AND ...

What the hell. It's not everyday you sit down with the head of the SEPTA workers' union. So we asked a favor.

Can you do anything about the token situation? Less than half the stations on the subwayhave tokens. Maybe all the people who are still mad at you, maybe they'll be less mad if you can get them token machines. Is there anything you, Willie Brown, can do for the people of Philadelphia?

Absolutely not. Although, I'll say this: In 2005, this is one of the things we fought SEPTA on — that they don't have tokens in the stations. Because I have real concerns for the success of SEPTA. ... I agree 100 percent that there's no reason tokens should be in such short supply. I'll tell you this — the reason sometimes they give you an odd number, or charge you $1.60, is that a lot of people don't have $1.60, so they put the $2 in there.

Those bastards.