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BART’s union leadership has given the required 72-hour strike notice, setting in motion a walkout planned for midnight Sunday that would halt all BART train service ahead of tomorrow morning’s commuter service.
“We are very disappointed and hope they (the unions) reconsider their options,” said BART spokesman Rick Rice. “A strike only stalls and delays the decisions that need to be made while using our riders as pawns.”
“BART is willing to stay at the table for as long as it takes to reach an agreement,” he added. “Even if there isn’t a deal in place by Sunday night, talks can be extended.”
Rice added: “A strike is unnecessary and places an unfair burden on our riders and everyone in the Bay Area. The District has responded to union leadership concerns with numerous concessions, while they have shown an unwillingness to bargain. They continue to insist on a 20+% pay increase with no changes to health care and a small pension contribution. The future of the system depends on a more reasonable contract.
“Our offer provides a raise for every worker in each year of the contract.
“There is no reason for union leadership to call a strike.”
At the same time, BART riders are being encouraged to plan ahead should unions strike. Charter bus service details and commute alternatives can be found on www.bart.gov/
BART officials and union leaders held dueling news conferences Thursday to try to win the public’s support with only three days remaining
before another potential strike Monday morning.
The day started with Antonette Bryant, the president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555, which represents 945 station agents, train operators and clerical workers, and other union leaders alleging at a morning news conference that BART management’s lead negotiator, Thomas Hock, has a history of engaging in hardball tactics and forcing strikes.
Bryant accused Hock and BART of engaging in “surface bargaining,” which she said is a technique designed not to make progress.
Bryant said, “We come to the table every day to bargain but we can’t bargain with ourselves,” alleging that BART management isn’t participating in a meaningful way.
BART management spokespersons then held a midday news conference to say that although the transit agency’s employees deserve a raise, their new contract must address the escalating cost of their benefit packages.
BART spokesman Jim Allison said the agency’s medical costs have grown 251 percent in 12 years and its pension costs have grown 126 percent in
10 years so it must begin to “normalize” employees’ benefits too so they’re closer to those earned by other public employees.
BART must keep its costs under control because it will need to make $6 billion in improvements to keep its trains system safe and reliable, Allison said.
Management met at the bargaining table at noon with negotiators for ATU Local 1555 members and Service Employees International Union Local 1021, which represents 1,430 mechanics, custodians and clerical workers, but talks ended at about 4 p.m. because union members left to participate in a
rally and march at Frank Ogawa Plaza in downtown Oakland that was scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.
At the morning news conference, Bryant said the unions’ felt justified in planning to leave the talks at 4 p.m. because management has left the bargaining table early at other sessions when the unions wanted to keep talking.
Bryant said the purpose of the rally and march is to “unite riders and workers” and said union leaders would be available to resume negotiations
Thursday night.
However, BART spokesman Rick Rice said at 5 p.m. that he hadn’t heard of any plans to resume the talks. But he said negotiating sessions are scheduled for each of the next three days.
Bryant said union leaders have reached tentative agreements on some minor issues in the contract talks but said the two sides still have a lot of work to do before they can reach agreements on the big issues in the talks, which are wages, pension contributions, health care contributions and worker safety.
Bay City News contributed to this report.
Bay City News contributed to this report.
Bart fares are too expensive as it is and Bart employees are well compensated employees. They have good salaries and excellent benefits for jobs that require minimal training. Why should we, who subsidize their salaries have to pay more and be tremendously burdened by a strike. A classic case of California special interest or the union having to justify its existence by getting more and more perks for its members.
BART is the best compensated public employees in this state. Pension Armageddon is approaching. Pension plans are under funded and will only continue to get worse w/o meaningful reform. BART management has only made the problem worse by bowing to union pressure year after year.
Employees have a legal right to strike.
They a right to make demands.
Fair is fair.
Just another example of the Unions out of touch benefits.
BART gives it’s employees and their families free travel passes on its system- even after they retire. The cost All together BART forgoes more than $2.1 million a year for the free rides
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_23778144/barts-free-ride-program-among-bay-areas-most
And we should have the right to train others and fire them. Fair is fair. No group should have the right to withhold critical services.
Whatever happened to “we the people”? The government is supposed to be a service to us, not the other way around.
To Cholo’s posting on the union’s legal right to strike, it is illegal in some parts of the country for transit workers to strike.
Once this strike is settled, I would encourage the truly concerned to write to their respective elected officials to do what several other major cities have done and that is to make such strikes illegal. Many major cities already have in place laws that make strikes by transit workers illegal. New York has such a law in place. A strike is illegal under the provisions of an addition to New York State Civil Service Law called the Public Employees Fair Employment Act, more commonly called the Taylor Law. It prohibits municipal workers from striking and provides alternative means for dispute resolution. The law provides for criminal penalties including imprisonment of union officials, and fines against the union and individual striking workers. Such a law here would put an end to such unrealistic demands by a union out of control.
It is LEGAL for BART employees to strike.
If you have a complaint, write a letter to Governor Brown…that may help!
hope you’re able to understand why some folks strikes…tee hee
Anybody who doesn’t understand what it means to say “We the people” can go back to where their ancestors came from…PRONTO!
It’s so UNAMERICAN…i mean it!
Contemplate this: http://assets.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/BART%20strike*304.jpg?v=3
American workers have legal rights.
Hey Cholo, I thought you just faded away. Your comments are disastrous.
I think the BART Board should give them what the want…BK the system…file BK…terminate everyone from top to bottom and start over.
New contract must have a non strike clause.
Put the word out….”help wanted” Bart will have a line 2 miles long.
Cholo no one is saying they don’t have a right to strike (right now…hopefully there will be some law put into place that won’t let them do this again.)
This whole issue has boiled down to greed and who has more power. It’s disgusting that someone who cleans dirty bathrooms and picks up trash makes more than teachers. If the unions want the public to get on board with them, they should work through the strike and keep the trains running. If these unions get everything handed to them on a golden plate, before long no one is going to want to ride BART…what will the workers say then when layoffs start happening?
If Plutonians and hang around the fort types are so unhappy with a worker’s right to strike, then work to change the law.
Or, move to place where worker’s cannot strike…like Tibet!
It’s the American way to say no, no, no, WE WON’T WORK!
Maybe a few of the posters need to buy themselves a new pair of socks, deodorant, a rolling pin, hairwax? who knows?
There are soooooo many whiners and tag alongs that all I can say is if the weather is nice today, at least shampoo your hairs…HALO EVERYBODY HALO! HALO IS THE SHAMPOOO THAT GLORIFIES YOUR HAIRS SO HALO EVERYBODY HALO!!!
Does Cholo’s postings ever make any sense or add any value to any conversation? Just asking!
I wish Cholo would go join his brethren in front of Home Depot who are trying to make an honest living than comment here. Vaya con Dios!
Kathleen,
Loved the article! Sounds about right. Only thing they didn’t cover was viewing everything through rose colored glasses. Guess if we had all that “stuff’, wouldn’t need the glasses anyway. Thanks for the chuckle.
Cholo, how many time do I have to remind you to take your medication?
Cholo, Maybe you will find this entertaining. It’s from The Onion (note: it is not a real news story). http://www.theonion.com/articles/nation-just-wants-to-be-safe-happy-rich-comfortabl,33335/?ref=auto