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Rendell: Striking Transit Union 'Nuts'
PHILADELPHIA - Governor Ed Rendell says Transport Workers Union Local 234, Philadelphia's largest transit union, is "nuts" for going on strike.
Commuters are scrambling to find other ways to get to and from work as the strike has brought the city's transit system to a near halt.
Rendell says SEPTA made the union of 5,000 transit workers a great offer.
He says it was "nuts for them to walk out" early Tuesday.
SEPTA says it was offering an 11.5 percent wage increase over five years, with a $1,250 signing bonus in the first year and increases in workers' pensions.
TWU had threatened to strike during the World Series over the weekend. But Rendell ordered negotiators to stay at the bargaining table or risk consequences. There had been no talk of an imminent walkout as recently as Monday evening.
But Willie Brown, the local's president, says workers decided to strike after both sides agreed that they had gone as far as they could in negotiations over salary, pension and health care issues. No new negotiations were scheduled Tuesday.
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