Brian Pollitt Becomes President of TWU Local 234
PHILADELPHIA – This week, Willie Brown, the president of Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 234, resigned his position as the leader of SEPTA’s largest union to become the head of the Transport Workers Union of America’s Transit, Universities, Utilities, and Services Division. Brian Pollitt, the local union’s elected executive vice president who was instrumental in guiding the recent negotiations with the transit authority, is now the powerful union’s new president.
A Philadelphia native, Brown began his career with SEPTA as a trolley operator in 1987. He was first elected president in 2008. Known for being a tough negotiator at the bargaining table and going toe-to-toe with the transit authority, Brown led strikes in 2009 and 2016 that shut down public transit. Last year, when SEPTA failed to provide adequate personal protection equipment for frontline transit workers threatened by exposure to Covid-19, he warned of the possibility of another “job action” unless the transit agency immediately took steps to better protect SEPTA workers. Conditions improved.
Under Brown’s leadership, TWU members received raises, bonuses, improvements in pensions, and additional holidays. The most recent contract, ratified last month, contained hazard pay and paid parental leave, in addition to wage increases. Notably, it also did not include concessions in healthcare benefits or seniority rights.
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