Politics & Government

President Obama Signs Executive Order Ending SEPTA Strike

At Governor Corbett's request, President Obama has signed an executive order appointing an emergency board to mediate the labor dispute.

SEPTA Regional Rail workers are headed back to work less than 24 hours after calling a strike due to intervention from the federal government.

President Obama on Saturday signed an executive order appointing an emergency board to mediate the labor dispute.

SEPTA's 13 Regional Rail lines will begin running as early as Sunday morning, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. 

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The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Governor Corbett asked Obama to get involved and appoint the emergency board, which will require SEPTA's Regional Rail employees to return to work for 240 days.

The short-lived strike went into effect 12:01 a.m. Saturday. More than 400 workers participated in the strike, the first in 31 years.

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Regional Rail employees want a 14.5 percent raise over five years, which is about 3 percentage points more than SEPTA has offered, 6 ABC reported.

SEPTA's Regional Rail engineers have been working without a contract since 2010; the electricians have not had a contract since 2009.


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