A toll worker gives a motorist a thumbs-up after waving their vehicle past a ticket booth in Carlisle, Pa. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission announ
The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s sudden layoff of hundreds of workers last week raised concerns among lawmakers about the state’s clandestine decision, prompting some to call on Gov. Tom Wolf to intervene.
“It is absurd that we would send 700 more Pennsylvanians to the unemployment line during this crisis,” said Sen. John Sabatina, D-Philadelphia, who also serves as minority chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee. “We agreed these loyal state employees would be retained until the end of 2021, when the Turnpike would go cashless.”
Indeed, the commission’s June 2 vote came as a surprise to more than 500 workers – mostly fare collectors – who believed the turnpike’s transition to cashless tolling was still two years away. Commission CEO Mark Compton blamed the accelerated layoffs on declining revenues and persistent uncertainty stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I deeply regret that we have reached this point, but the world has been irrevocably changed by the global pandemic,” he said. “This pandemic had a much greater impact than anyone could have foreseen. The PA Turnpike has not been spared from COVID-19.”
In written testimony submitted to the House Transportation Committee on June 4, Compton said fare revenues plummeted $100 million after the state furloughed collectors March 16 as part of pandemic mitigation efforts. Wolf’s restrictions on economic activity and travel cut turnpike traffic in half, he said.
Further, Compton said a return to cash collections jeopardizes the health and safety of both workers and travelers as the extent and the severity of a potential second wave of the virus remains unknown.
The commission said it also tried to avert the layoffs by reducing operating expenses, slashing capital costs 25 percent, instituting a hiring freeze, offering voluntary retirement and delaying its $112.5 million state tax payment due in July.
“From the start, we have taken a phased, deliberate approach to offset revenue loss that offers a degree of flexibility to adapt depending on the crisis’ duration,” Compton said. “However, it has become clear these steps are not enough.”
Some 17 Democratic senators characterized the commission’s “secret” decision as “disturbing” in a June 5 letter to Wolf that pressed him to intervene. Among other contractual obligations broken by the commission’s vote, lawmakers said the workers were meant to use the next two years applying for existing state jobs or receiving tuition credits for new career training programs.
Lawmakers also questioned why the commission never mentioned the potential layoffs during a May 12 hearing with the Senate Transportation Committee about the turnpike’s finances.
“This sudden decision to terminate 700 hardworking Turnpike employees violates the agreement we had in place and comes at a time when the Commonwealth should be doing everything it can to curtail the loss of jobs,” said Sen. Tina Tartaglione, D-Philadelphia and minority chair of the Senate Labor and Industry Committee. “We must insist that all stakeholders have their say in a public forum as part of any decision-making process of this magnitude.”
The senators’ letter requests immediate hearings to delve into the matter. In the meantime, they insist the first set of layoffs scheduled for June 18 be postponed.
“We understand the financial difficulties placed upon the Turnpike, however, it is blatantly unconscionable to mislead employees into thinking that their jobs were somewhat secure for the next year and a half, while knowing that these loyal employees really had less than a month to find another job in the midst of a pandemic,” the letter concludes.
The Center Square reached out directly to the Wolf administration and the PTC for comment on this story, but received no response.
See also:
Wolf: New Guidance Allows For Mini-Golf, Motorsports And Other Outdoor Activities In Yellow Phase
Wolf: Not So Fast on Vote to End Disaster Declaration
Pa. Health Officials Quietly Alter Erroneous Nursing Home Case, Death Counts As Providers Cry Foul
Wolf: 12 Additional Counties Moving To Green Phase Next Week, Montco To Remain In Yellow
Pennsylvania Turnpike Goes Cashless Permanently, Lays Off 500 Workers
