Philadelphia transit police ratify new contract

Philadelphia Inquirer, The, June, 2008 by Paul Nussbaum Inquirer Staff Writer

SEPTA transit police overwhelmingly ratified a new four-year contract yesterday, formally ending a long-running contract dispute that prompted a brief strike last weekend. After having rejected three earlier tentative agreements, members of the Fraternal Order of Transit Police (FOTP) voted 133-9 to approve the latest agreement.

The contract provides for 3 percent annual pay increases, an increase in "longevity" pay, a 1 percent-of-pay contribution by police to their health-insurance coverage, a $270,000 increase in payments to survivors of an officer killed in the line of duty, and an increase in officers' pensions. "I'm glad this is over," a smiling union president Richard Neal Jr. said at FOTP headquarters after the votes were tallied. "We look forward to going back and...