State lawmakers calling out Pa. Turnpike’s decision to lay off 500 employees during COVID-19 pandemic

Some state lawmakers are calling out the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission for eliminating 500 jobs in the middle of a pandemic, and they’ve scheduled a hearing on Monday to grill turnpike officials.

“We were all blindsided, the workers were blindsided. They were promised repeatedly that their jobs were safe until January of 2022,” said State Senator Lindsey Williams, (D) Allegheny County.

Williams is one of 17 senators who signed a strongly worded letter to Governor Tom Wolf, demanding that he suspend the turnpike commission's decision to eliminate 500 toll collectors and explore alternatives that allow the turnpike to keep its original promise to its faithful employees.

“I truly regret that we've reached this decision, but the world has been forever changed by this global pandemic,” said Turnpike CEO Mark Compton on June 2.

The turnpike made the announcement earlier this month, citing a 50 percent drop in traffic and a loss of more than 100 million dollars. The turnpike had planned to go to all cashless tolling in 2022, but with concerns about COVID-19, implemented it back in March, and they say the decision is not only driven by finances.

“It was also driven by health and safety. Today we cannot risk returning to cash collections,” Compton said.

The turnpike says they've taken measures to tighten the belt, including cutting capital spending by 25 percent, implementing a hiring freeze, and a voluntary retirement program for managers.

But lawmakers like Williams said the turnpike had just ratified a contract with toll collectors that promised the jobs were safe until 2022.

“You made it. You made a deal with them. You made a promise to them and we should fulfill the promise,” Williams said.

And Williams believes there are other ways to tighten the belt instead of eliminating jobs during a pandemic.

“How do you do that to somebody? How do you do that to somebody's family?” Williams said.

Lawmakers have scheduled a hearing on Monday morning to figure out if there's another way to make cuts and give the employees the 18 months they expected to find new jobs.

Channel 11 reached out to the turnpike and the toll workers union for a response. Both said they will speak at the hearing.

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