Staff Blog
Appetite for Destruction 3: Fast Eddie edition
The union and SEPTA won't meet for another couple of hours — and really, what's the rush? — by Gov. Ed Rendell has inserted himself into things, telling the Daily News that the union should suck it up through the weekend.
"This is a great opportunity for the city to shine in these next three days," Rendell said of the series, with games scheduled at Citizens Bank Park tomorrow, Sunday and Monday. "It's not like the union can get leverage by doing this because the leverage goes away in three days. By the time the weekend is over, the leverage is gone. All they do is give the city a little bit of a black eye."
Yeah, I know … stating the obvious.
But here's the thing: If SEPTA doesn't roll over — which I kind of doubt; nobody likes to be dicked around like this — what happens? The TWU could strike, and reap (deservedly so) the lion's share of the blame if shit goes south this weekend — and then, maybe, have to deal legislation that would force transit contracts into arbitration and prohibit strikes, as is the case with cops and firefighters, because I promise you that Harrisburg will not be amused.
Were I a betting man, however — and hey, I am — I'd wager that all of this posturing is just that, posturing. Sometime between now and midnight, SEPTA and union officials will announce some sort of compromise, or union officials will say that, in their beneficence, they've decided to extend negotiations and work through the weekend, because they love their city and they're team players and some other such pabulum. Maybe I'm green in this part of the world, but I can't see the TWU being bat-shit crazy enough to go through with it. And I have to imagine that SEPTA officials know they're bluffing.
We'll see how accurate my prognostication skills are in about six hours and 40 minutes.
[...] to be that guy or anything, but I pretty much called it: When the chips were down, TWU declined to go on strike and fuck up the city’s transportation [...]