Not 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 system during its moment in the sun. According to the union, this happened because Gov. Rendell threatened to yank mass transit funding if either they or SEPTA officials left the negotiating table — an empty threat if ever I heard one. (Seriously, Fast Eddie's gonna punish 1 million some-odd SEPTA commuters because authority and union leaders throw adolescent temper tantrums? Right.) But anyway. Using the gov's alleged "threat" as cover, the union backed off its nihilistic promise to plunge this city into chaos over the weekend. Now, we're told, a deal is imminent.
Good. Now, with the worst presumably behind us, let's take a look at the bigger picture. First of all, I don't really have a problem with SEPTA threatening to strike, in teh abstract anyway. I've spent most of my life in a largely non-union state, Florida, and seen what happens when there's not a strong counterbalance to either governmental or business excess. My objection, rather, was to the nature of the TWU's threat — i.e. give us our way or we'll blow up the city. Sure. SEPTA shouldn't be dragging out negotiations for six months after the last contract expired, but trying to negotiate by taking the city hostage isn't my idea of maturity, or a way to engender my respect. The problem, in this particular instance, was one of tactics.
Does TWU have a case? Probably, at least in some respects. Yeah, rising healthcare costs suck, and no one wants to see their costs rise from 1 percent to 4 percent — when my insurance kicks in (please God, let me make it to Jan. 1) I'll be paying somewhere around 7 percent of my paycheck for me and my fiancee — as SEPTA proposes for its workers. But everyone's costs have gone up, everywhere. The cost of healthcare itself is increasingly astronomically (c'mon, public option), and without asking the union to pay up, those costs get passed along to riders and state taxpayers. But, OK, fine, whatever. Same with wages. Is SEPTA being a bit heavy-handed with a two-year wage freeze? I'll admit to not knowing the severity of the authority's budget woes, but I'd imagine they can bend a bit on that. I really haven't found TWU's argument for more pension money at all convincing.
The eventual agreement will probably fall somewhere in the middle. Seems there won't be an increase in health costs, but I would imagine (or hope) that in return the union will give up its pension pipe dream, and then they'll come to a middle ground on wages (maybe 1 percent a year instead of nothing; but really, the union's demands for 4 percent per year are simply unrealistic, and I reckon they know that).
The bigger issue, for me — and this may make me a bit unpopular in these parts — is the union's ability to muddy the authority's ability to innovate. No layoffs, guaranteed? Great, until there's a crisis that demands them. Guaranteed raises, no matter how well or poorly someone performs? I'm much more inclined to award merit over seniority.
See, to me, unions are supposed to be a counterbalance, not an anchor. SEPTA isn't a multi-billion dollar corporation; it's a state-funded authority, with a responsibility to provide transit at reasonable costs. The union would do well to keep in mind that that is its primary mission — it's not merely a guaranteed jobs program. The union is and should be there to protect its workers from being exploited; I support that. But making unrealistic demands and then threatening to strike on the most important weekend of the year if you don't get your way isn't about protecting workers, it's about manipulating SEPTA officials' to produce maximum returns for its members, even if such returns are ultimately harmful to taxpayers and SEPTA users.
In that sense, I glad their bluff was called. Next time, negotiate like grown-ups.
Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania, was again among the highest-paid university presidents in the country with an annual salary of well over $1 million, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education's salary survey released today.
Afghan president Hamid Karzai automatically won a second term today after his only remaining challenger from the fraud-ridden election in August dropped out of the runoff election planned for Nov. 7, saying he believed the runoff would be as corrupt as the original.
Bagram Air Field, the largest U.S. army base in Afghanistan, already houses about 24,000 military personnel and contractors but is still expanding with rapid construction projects costing millions of dollars, even as President Obama debates whether to send more troops into the country.
The Iraqi oil ministry signed an agreement with a consortium of companies headed by the Italian firm ENI to develop the Zubair oil field in southern Iraq, marking the oil ministry's second major contract since the U.S. invasion. The group will extract 200,000 barrels of oil a day from the field, possibly eventually rising to 1.1 million barrels.
New York Waste Management has been paying townships and property owners in Philadelphia's northern suburbs millions of dollars annually to dump about 2,500 tons of trash from New York City in their landfills every day.
Dunno if it was the shaky first inning by Joe Blanton, the continued struggles of Ryan Howard vs. lefties, the reliance on the solo home run, the uncanny ability to convert a 2-on-nobody-out opportunity into a goose egg, or the almost comically preordained bullpen collapse that was most emblematic of the Phils season.
Last night's World Series game 4 had a little bit of everything for your local neighborhood Phils cynic. Let's not forget that while the Phillies are indeed a very formidable team, they've got their weaknesses — and almost all of them were exposed against the best power pitching and power hitting money can buy.
CC Sabathia — his inability to do anything with Chase Utley notwithstanding — continued to make Phils lefties Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez look look like Rico Brogna and Travis Lee.
Joe Blanton, a yeoman 4th starter, despite a sick run from the second inning into the fifth where he painted the corners deftly, was undone in a fifth inning where nobody hit the ball all that hard, but, given Blanton's lack of an out pitch, was unable to drop the hammer and end an ill timed two-run rally.
Charlie Manuel, despite finding himself in a situation — tied at 4 in the ninth after an improbable Pedro Feliz tying shot — where he might be facing extra innings, decided to not try to get another inning out of his best/most durable reliever, Ryan Madson, and went to Brad Lidge in a situation that called for perfection.
In a bit of irony too rich for words, when the Phils employed a severe defensive shift against Mark Teixeira — the same one used so often against their own Ryan Howard — they got burned on a steal of second wherein Johnny Damon kept running right on down to an uncovered third base.
Of course, then there's the mystery of why Brad Lidge stopped throwing his slider — his best pitch and possibly the best pitch on the entire staff — while facing Johnny Damon in the first place, but Brad Lidge mysteries could fill a book at this point.
Meanwhile, our erstwhile mayor is offering these reassuring assurances: "Well, today is Friday. The parties have been talking. When parties are talking, it's a much more positive sign than when
they're not."
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.
Friday: James Spooner and Matthew Morgan's idea for the Afro-Punk fest came out of their 2003 doc, which is apt because your Mischief Night is going to be movie-themed. In addition to hitting up music/lit/sometimes sports fest, you can check out Lars Von Trier's Antichrist, which I guarantee will show you more than any Saw movie could hope to do. Or go for the OG of horror, Nosferatu, accompanied by the lovely former covergirl T. Desiree Hines (and had a cameo on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia last night!).
Governor Ed Rendell says he expects a clause in the pending table game legislation — one that would allow PA casinos to extend credit to their customers, whether they're playing table games or just slots — to die before reaching his desk.
In a phone conference today, Rendell referred to that clause and others as "ancillary," and said, "I think a lot of that stuff is going to go out of the bills before it gets to me."
Pressed on the issue of casino credit specifically, Rendell said, "I don't think that will survive the final bill — but if it did, I would have to sign it. That's not a core issue for me."
Listen to the exchange here:
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The General Assembly is supposed to reconvene on Monday, Nov. 9 to settle the issue.
Meanwhile, we noticed that today's Inquirereditorialized against the credit clause:
Even when Pennsylvania's flawed gaming bill was passed in the dark of night in 2004, the legislature had enough sense to prohibit the extension of in-store credit.
Why back off now?
The gaming industry says it needs to be able to provide credit to the high rollers expected once the slots parlors morph. But the credit access will also be there for problem gamblers and those who can least afford it.
That's especially troubling in Philadelphia, where about a quarter of the population lives in poverty and many are on the edge.
Oh, awesome! Union negotiators have postponed talks until 5:30 this afternoon — six hours and 31 minutes before the strike deadline. SEPTA blames the delay on the union; the union isn't talking. Is the union is overselling its hand with this rather obvious ploy? The closer the strike gets, the more pressure SEPTA comes under to get something, anything, ironed out before all hell breaks loose (translation: bending over and giving the union whatever it wants). Then again, walking out of negotiations in the eleventh hour when you're already demanding raises and benefit increases while everyone else is dodging pink slips might not be the best way to engender public sympathy.
Received a flurry of texts/tweets/fb messages last night informing me that our dear newspaper had a cameo in last night's episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
At 12:01 a.m., the Transport Workers Union Local 234's 5,100 members may go on strike, rendering the city's public transportation system inactive — and what do you know, just in time for the World Series, the Saturday Flyers game, the Spectrum's last concert, Halloween, and the Eagles vs. Giants contest. This, the TWU would have you know, is purely coincidental. The union insists, and we totally believe them, that they're negotiating in good faith, and not merely using the potential calamity that such a shutdown would surely cause this weekend as leverage to force their SEPTA overlords to accede to their demands.
The TWU is seeking 4 percent raises each of the next four years, a freeze on employee's health contributions at 1 percent (!), and an increase in pension benefits. SEPTA, which has seen ridership revenue decline about 5 percent since its peak last year, wants a wage freeze for two years followed by a 2 percent increase in the two years that follow, an increase in employee health contributions from 1 percent to 4 percent, and a freeze on pension benefits. Judge for yourself who's being more reasonable.
Who blinks first? Will SEPTA call the union's bluff? Is the union in fact bluffing? (Or, to put it another way, are SEPTA workers willing to endure the wrath of a very pissed-off city if they pull this kamikaze stunt now?)
We'll find out, in the next 13 hours and 25 minutes. Your countdown is on.
On the cover this week, our fave Aid or Invade columnist Rodney Anonymous chronicles all kinds of hilarity in preparation for his Hallow's Eve reunion with The Dead Milkmen.
Here's an official MLB urn from the West Laurel Hill Cemetery, although it's sold at other funeral homes as well. For $650, you can spend eternity with the Phillies, purchased from the final resting place of early Phillies owner Alfred James Reach, Ben Shibe (who created the two-piece cover baseball), his sons Thom and John who helped Connie Mack out with the A's and, of course, HK.
On the face of it, the effort to introduce table games to Pennsylvania casinos didn't seem like a major expansion of gambling. Table games, after all, are expected to produce only about $200 million a year, including licensing fees, in state revenues, compared to the nearly $1 billion that came in from slots last year (with some casinso yet to open).
Table games are also less directly tied to gambling addiction and problem gambling.
But a tiny clause in table game legislaiton – one that has gone almost completely unreported – makes table games, expected to pass any day now, potentially a much bigger deal indeed: a clause that would let casinos extend credit to slots and table games players.
Why is this a big deal?
When I first began reporting on the ever-growing casino industry and its ever-growing dependence on slot machines for its profits, I encountered horror stories about what happens when casinos extend credit lines to gamblers.
Some of those stories related to Foxwoods – not the facility being built here but the one already operating in Connecticut. Foxwoods' owners, acording to work done by journalist and professor Jeff Benedict, had pursued gambling debts to the point of placing liens on the debtors' houses and appearing as creditors in foreclosure documents.
The idea that casinos – which, according to respected studies, make a disproportionately large amont of their profit from problem gamblers – would be acting as mini-banks for those very gamblers seeemed pretty disturbing.But the issue, i was told, was a red herring: because Pennsylvania doesn't allow casinos to extend credit to gamblers.
Apparntly, however, they're about to.
Both table games bills being considered – Senate bills SB711 and SB1033 – contain the following clause(1326A.b):
A certificate holder may make credit card advances and debit card withdrawals available to patrons at its licensed facility [ . . . ] A certificate holder may extend credit to patrons for the purpose of playing slot machines or table games.
This goes directly against the current law, which states, in unusually direct language, that:
Slot machine licencees may not extend credit. Slot machine licensees may not accept credit cards, charge cards or debit cards from a player for the exchange or purchase of slot machine credits or for an advance of coins or currency to be utilized by a player to play slot machine games or extend credit in any manner to a player so as to enable the player to play slot machines.
The Daily News recently called table games "a trojan horse," but mentioned the extension of credit only briefly. Other than that, this news has gone – as far as I can make out, anyway – virtually unreported.
The idea of this legislation being a trojan horse demands serious attention. Were table games really just a way to get previously-banned practices, like the extension of credit, into the slots parlors?
And why is no one talking about this? The difference between a casino that can lend money to its lots players and one that can't would seem pretty significant.
Well that’s an interesting idea: The Fare Strike (12)
— David C: I agree with David G as well. But as to Emynona’s comment - by boycotting SEPTA, we...
— MickD: Boycott. And we should also make demands. No fare increases and Willie Brown should have to step down...
Staff Blog
