Community Corner

BART Strike Appears Likely On Monday, Negotiations Continue

Union leaders give 72-hour strike notice. What will you do if BART employees walk off the job again?

 

 

Are you ready for another BART strike?

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It appears Bay Area commuters are one day closer to having the transit rail service shut down for the second time this summer by an employee walkout.

On Thursday evening, BART union leaders issued a 72-hour strike notice, which means workers will walk off the job on Monday morning if a new contract agreement isn’t reached by midnight Sunday.

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Union leaders could not be reached for further comment. BART officials said they are dismayed by the announcement.

"We are very disappointed and hope they 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 riders interviewed at the Pleasant Hill station on Thursday afternoon seemed to think the strike will resume on Monday.

A Pleasant Hill resident who didn’t want to give his name said he thought the two sides were too far apart to reach an agreement by Sunday night.

He rides BART to his job in Oakland every day. If there is a strike, he plans to take Monday and Tuesday off and then ride the Amtrak train from Martinez to Oakland until the dispute is settled.

“I could drive, but I hate driving. Amtrak is the way for me,” he said. “I’m a little angry. It’s an inconvenience, but that’s the way it is.”

Two students at the station also felt a strike was imminent.

Tori Becker has been taking BART into San Francisco twice a week for classes. The Pleasant Hill woman said her course ends on Saturday, so she wouldn’t personally be affected by a strike.

Nonetheless, it bothers her that BART workers could walk off the job.

“It’s going to inconvenience a lot of people,” she said.

Chris Asper rides the bus from Fairfield to Pleasant Hill BART once a week to get to San Francisco to attend an Academy of Art class.

His final class is next week, but he says he’ll skip it if there’s a strike.

He believes there will be a walkout because BART employees have been passing out leaflets to riders with information on alternative modes of transportation.

“I don’t see why they can’t come to some sort of agreement,” Asper said.

BART workers staged a Thursday evening rally in downtown Oakland that included a 6 p.m. march to BART headquarters. Rally organizers said the event was designed to encourage all working people to stand up against corporate and government cuts. Occupy Oakland participants were expected to attend.

Meanwhile, union and management negotiators spent another day at the negotiating table Thursday without reaching agreement on a new contract.

Talks have continued over the weekend.

Union leaders and BART officials say the two sides remain far apart on major issues such as wages, benefits and pensions but that there has been some movement on both sides according to the SFGate.

Antonette Bryant, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555, said she was hoping the two sides would be closer to an agreement by now.

BART management says union negotiators are asking for a 21 percent pay hike over three years while the transit agency is offering 8 percent over four years.

BART is also asking union employees to pay 5 percent of their pension costs, phased in over four years. Union negotiators want a 3 percent contribution at the end of three years.

BART also wants union workers to pay 10 percent of their medical premium costs. Right now, they pay a flat $92 fee, about 5 percent of the premiums.

On Thursday, BART also released figures showing how BART workers’ benefits compared to other public employees.

They note BART’s medical costs have risen 251 percent the past 12 years while pension costs have increased 126 percent the past 10 years.

“We feel the public has the right to know the facts,” Rice explained.

Patch contacted union leaders for comment on the figures, but so far they have not returned the calls.

BART management also points out the average salary for a BART worker is close to $80,000 a year. Their benefits are worth about $50,000 a year.

Union leaders note that BART executives are paid hefty salaries, one reason for the high average.

BART General Manager Grace Crunican receives a base salary of $312,000. More than 20 other managers and police department employees earn base salaries in excess of $100,000.

In addition, it was revealed in June that former BART General Manager Dorothy Dugger received $333,000 in gross salary in 2012 even though she didn’t work a single day. The payment was part of a retirement agreement reached when Dugger resigned in 2011.

Members of the ATU and the Service Employees International Union Local 1021 went on strike for four days on July 1.

A 30-day contract extension brought the employees back to work on July 5, but that extension ends on Sunday night.

Other public transportation agencies are gearing up for the possibility of another strike. They have announced their plans to beef up service if BART employees walk off the job again.


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