Pennsylvania: Judge denies injunction to end strike, will revisit Monday | Philadelphia Inquirer
A judge ruled Friday there was no urgent need to issue an injunction to end Philadelphia’s four-day transit strike, but said she would take a second look at the request before Election Day. After a 2 1/2-hour hearing Friday night, Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Linda Carpenter denied SEPTA’s request to immediately force 4,738 striking workers back on the job. She scheduled a second hearing for 9:30 a.m. Monday. “There’s enough evidence that an injunction might be appropriate,” Carpenter said. “There’s not enough evidence that injunction right now is necessary.” SEPTA had been threatening to go to court since the strike began at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, and filed the injunction paperwork at 3 p.m. Friday. The strike has brought the city’s subways, buses, and trolleys to a standstill and caused heavy traffic on the region’s streets, highways and regional rail. “This is about the riders,” said Pasquale Deon, SEPTA’s board chairman, “and it’s just a horrible situation to put the city of Philadelphia in.”