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October 31, 2000

TEAMSTERS UNION FAILS TO ACCEPT TURNPIKE OFFER
Turnpike Reassures Motorists That Roadway Will Remain Open

Carlisle -- The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission announced Tuesday evening that the union negotiating team representing 1,900 toll collectors, maintenance workers and other personnel has not accepted a "highly competitive" offer covering wages, benefits and job security and has decided to halt contract talks.

"We are extremely disappointed that — after months of negotiations and meaningful discussions of the issues — the union’s negotiating team has chosen not to accept the Commission’s final offer," said the Turnpike’s chief negotiator Howard Flaxman.

Flaxman, an attorney with the Philadelphia law firm of Fox, Rothschild, O’Brien and Frankel, expressed his hope that the union will quickly reconsider and resume negotiations as soon as possible.

Turnpike officials said that union representatives would not clarify their intentions or plans relative to a work stoppage. But the Commission stressed that the Turnpike would remain open regardless of the union’s actions.

In the event of a strike, Commission officials said that management employees would collect fixed tolls at most interchanges, charging passenger vehicles $1 and commercial vehicles $10 regardless of distance traveled.

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 P.O. Box 67676, Harrisburg, PA 17106-7676         Phone: (717) 939-9551         Fax: (717) 986-9649