SEPTA and Transport Workers Union Local 234 reached a tentative labor agreement Monday that, if ratified, would avert a strike in Philadelphia.

TWU Local 234 and the transit agency reached a tentative two-year contract that includes a 3.5% wage increase each year and increases in pension benefits, night differential pay and health benefits for new employees, the union announced. New employees would have their vision and dental benefits start after 90 days instead of after 15 months of employment under the agreement.

"I am very pleased that we were able to settle without a strike. Our members had worked without a contract for the past month. Patience was growing thin and management seemed unhurried," TWU Local 234 President Will Vera said in a statement. "The governor and his people got k

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