Transport Workers Union Local 234 members working for Upper Darby Township unanimously voted Monday afternoon to authorize a strike that could start as soon as January 1. 

The overwhelming majority of the roughly 115 township employees who affiliate with the TWU filled the American Legion Post 214 meeting room and followed their vote with applause and a jubilant chant. 

“Who are we?” union business agent George Bannon asked the crowd. 

“234!” they answered. 

Repetitions of that call and response gave way to another.

“What do we want? Contract! When do we want it? Now!”

The workers include trash collectors, electricians, mechanics, animal-control specialists, and other public-works tradesmen performing their duties under a contract expiring at year’s end. They want a new agreement holding their personal contributions to their healthcare coverage at 3.5 percent. A contract proposed by Democratic Mayor Ed Brown’s administration would require employees to contribute about three times as much. 

“This is a message to the township that we’re serious about getting a fair contract for our members,” Bannon said after the vote. “Some of their proposals that they have are just unreasonable and would bring serious harm to our members’ livelihoods and to the residents of this town.” 

Points of contention outside of healthcare include provisions on working conditions, retirement benefits, and leave time. Bannon suggested the TWU made “some progress” with the administration on subcontracting limits in discussions earlier in the day. His union wants to preserve a no-layoff clause instead of allowing more subcontracting to fill employee roles. 

“We’re their friends, we’re their neighbors, we are taxpayers just like they are, and what we’re asking for is not unreasonable,” he said. “We want to maintain our standard of living and provide good services for the town.” 

Sources close to the township indicated the TWU and the administration planned a meeting — the fourth in this negotiation process — later Monday evening. Chief Administrative Officer Crandall Jones is steering the process on Upper Darby’s behalf. In a statement, he said the municipality wants to make employee healthcare contributions closer to typical figures which he said range between 12 and 30 percent.

“Our priority remains balancing the needs of our employees with the financial responsibility we owe to taxpayers,” Jones said.

Something Jones did not mention is the lucrative position he and numerous other top-tier municipal staffers enjoy. His own salary is $191,000 and will rise three percent next year per his contract. He thus receives pay roughly equal to — if not higher than — any member of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s cabinet. 

Certain township vendors also receive immense pay, notably Solicitor Sean Kilkenny, the regional Democratic power-broker whose firm gets a $22,500 monthly retainer plus billable hours.

Some community leaders and activists have called for management to make concessions regarding their own compensation before asking labor to sacrifice. 

“I’d be looking at other places to cut money to make sure our trash is picked up,” former Township Council President Brian Burke (R-At-Large) told Broad + Liberty before the strike decision. [The township workers are] needed seven days a week…. Take [the money] from the CAO. Take it from Kilkenny.” 

Drexel Hill resident John DeMasi, who has spearheaded numerous grassroots efforts to boost transparency and fiscal discipline in the township, agreed.

“You can’t tell a union member, ‘Sorry, there’s no money, we’re paying ourselves too much,’” he said. 

While Upper Darby’s executive staffers and major vendors get prodigious salaries or retainers, the Brown administration wants more from taxpayers as well as unionized staff. While the County Court of Common Pleas nixed an attempt to enact a one percent earned income tax (EIT) on procedural grounds, Brown has issued a 2025 budget proposal that assumes a mid-year reinstatement of the EIT. The administration also wanted Council to vote on a significant property tax increase this week, though a botched advertisement of the measure may force a delay. 

DeMasi, who filed the lawsuit that killed the EIT, broadly objects to the administration’s economic agenda and took particular exception to Jones’s statement at a recent Council meeting bemoaning a $15 million municipal deficit.

“It’s because they increased spending by $15 million,” DeMasi said. “You don’t have a deficit until you spend something that you don’t have.” 

Like Burke and DeMasi, Councilwoman Laura Wentz (I-At-Large) has called for restraining executive compensation to improve the township’s fiscal health and avert higher taxes. Anticipating the strike vote, she released a statement in support of the TWU members. 

“I stand in solidarity with the workers of Upper Darby,” she said. “Our TWU workers and all the township employees deserve a fair contract. I have always stood up for our workers [and] protected their contracts and salaries!” 

Many of those workers were in high spirits after their vote on Monday.

“It’s just a nice show of unity between all the 234 members that are from the district and within the township,” an electrician going by Bill L. said in reflection on what just took place. He preferred not to give his full name. 

Union leaders declared themselves steadfast in opposition to the township balancing its budget at their expense.

“We showed the resolve to fight any attempts to lessen what we already have after I-don’t-know-how-many-plus years of negotiations,” Local 234 Treasurer Joe Coccio said. “The fact that they want to piggyback their woes on us is ridiculous.” 

Bradley Vasoli is a writer and media strategist in Pennsylvania. You can follow him on X at @BVasoli.