Transit strike ends

Yay!!!!


Apparently yesterday's short afternoon meeting was followed by an all-night marathon bargaining session, resulting in an agreement in the wee hours such that many transit lines were running by the end of the morning rush hour, and all of them are expected to be back in commission by the end of the working day.

"Like all agreements, both sides compromised," said Rendell. He said the union would contribute 1 percent of the cost of base salary toward health care and also agreed to some other company demands but got what Rendell called "a significant increase" in pensions.

Union spokesman Bob Bedard said the contract includes salary increases of 3 percent a year for each of the four years. He said management had also agreed to make a similar contribution for health care and the union also got some work rule changes it sought.

Both sides still need to ratify the agreement, but their willingness to return to work makes that seem pretty likely. Best news for commuters is that the new agreement will be longer than usual, so it will be four years before we have to worry about another transit disruption.