[Transit-allegheny] Pgh Transit: Bankruptcy by 2009?

[Glenn A. Walsh]

Shortly after Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85 rejected the Fact Finder's Report for a new labor agreement for operation of Pittsburgh's Port Authority Transit system Friday afternoon, Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato warned that the transit system could be out of business by the end of this year.

Had the Transit Union agreed to the Fact Finder's Report, as the PAT Board did earlier on Friday, Mr. Onorato would have agreed to release the $27 million in County funding (from new poured-drink and auto-rental taxes), to match about $184.5 million in funding from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This is despite the fact, according to Mr. Onorato, that the Fact Finder's Report only provides minimal savings to the transit system, primarily in starting the job of handling legacy costs in the future.

Mr. Onorato emphasized that PAT could not survive under the current labor agreement, which provides for early retirements and health care for life. He said, "There's a strong likelihood that transit service won't exist by the end of the year in Allegheny County."

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, cash-flow projections recently showed the authority could run out of money in January.

Transit Union Local 85 President and Business Agent Patrick McMahon said that the Fact Finder's Report "would set our members back 50 years." He also said that, at the present time, the Union would "stay on the job, with the hope that the authority comes back to the table and negotiates in good faith."

The last Pittsburgh transit strike lasted 28 days and only ended after then-Pittsburgh Mayor Sophie Masloff went to Commonwealth Court to enjoin a continuation of the strike. At that time, Judge Silvestri Silvestri Silvestri ruled that the City of Pittsburgh had proven their case that the strike had created "a clear and present danger and a threat to the health, safety and welfare of the public."

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gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
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