BART Prepares for Possible Second Strike

strike-feat

That brief memory of BART being on strike over July 4 weekend could get a lot more real in just a few days. BART and its labor unions met today, and the two sides still couldn’t reach an agreement, SFGate reports. The 30-day contract extension from the strike earlier this month is coming up, which means that at midnight on Sunday, Aug. 4, BART workers could strike again, and this time perhaps for longer.

Union representatives have been criticizing BART’s lead negotiator’s vacation during the talks. From SF Appeal/Bay City News:

SEIU Local 1021 executive director Pete Castelli said negotiations have been ongoing but have been proceeding more slowly than they should because BART’s lead negotiator, Thomas Hock, has been on vacation for the past 10 days.

Castelli said that means the parties have only been able to talk about small supplemental issues during that time instead of the bigger sticking points, which he said are wages, benefits and worker safety.

But [Transit district spokesman Rick] Rice said Hock’s vacation was approved by the state mediator back on July 7 and that the parties have still been able to talk about important matters in his absence.

The two sides will be back at the table Tuesday and daily until Sunday to try to reach an agreement over the labor dispute at the center of the discussion. You all weighed in during the first strike and there didn’t seem to be any tolerable transit options at the time. If BART strikes again, will you have different transit alternatives this time around? Time to sharpen that walking stick?

9 comments

  • LP

    ‘F’ the BART workers. I’m sorry, just what universe are they living in??!?!

    Check this out:
    http://bartlabornews.com/
    “BART would need an 18% fare increase over 3 years to pay for the unions’ proposal of a more than 20% pay increase over 3 years. A fare increase of 5.8% each year would be needed to pay for it. ”

    Oh heeeell no!

    And a SECOND strike?! It’s amazing to me that this is allowed to happen. Not ok. I can’t imagine a very large percentage of Bay Area residents are supportive or sympathetic to the BART union workers at this point.

    • You do realize that BartLaborNews.com was put up by Bart’s management, right? Hardly a legitimate source of information.

      • LP

        Original source:
        http://www.mercurynews.com/bart/ci_23742276/bart-workers-paychecks-already-outpace-their-peers?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com

        All “lies” in this, too? Completely inaccurate? I don’t think so.

        Someone in that article had a good point:
        “(BART unions) have a degree of leverage from a strike perspective that many other industries don’t, and this is a classic example of them capitalizing on it,” said Christopher Thornberg, founding partner of Beacon Economics, a Los Angeles-based economics consulting firm. “If you ask me, it’s a tiny bit short of blackmail: ‘Give me the money or the commute’s going to get it.’ ”

        This situation has been created by pure decadence on the part of both the BART workers AND management.
        So, sort out your labor issues with your management, but don’t drag the entire Bay Area into your problems. We have enough of our own, thanks.

        And no, ‘blair’, not all of us have fabulous pay and benefits and weekends off!

        • The strike is intentional on the part of Bart management. They hired a negotiator with a track record of causing strikes — let’s not pretend that was an accident.

  • blair

    I am pro-union and anti BART Management. They are liars and thieves through and through…setting up their own businesses to profit from stranded passengers when the union went on strike the first time. Getting paid 300k a year after resigning. F**k that! I don’t want those workers to have to strike, except it’s so fun to watch you whiners bitch and moan about no BART from your comfy chair, with fabulous pay and benefits, and weekends off, that some union in the way back machine fought so hard so you could enjoy!

  • KJY

    Not being able to get to work is not whining, you union thugs are extortionists plain and simple. You hide under the guise of people trying to make it better for others when really you just care about fleecing the public for as much as you can. I’m so sick and tired of you all. If you were judged and hired individually you wouldn’t be able to get away with this.

    • blair

      KJY: Please go to City College whilst they still have accredited classes and take a “critical thinking” class, so maybe your mind can better process things you know absolutely nothing about. Oh, and enjoy your weekend off that some EXTORTIONIST labor union got you so long ago!

    • Rick

      Yeah! I think everyone should work for low wages and have poor benefits. There shouldn’t even be a standard at all for working. Heck, if you don’t have a college degree, you really don’t even deserve health care. I mean, I work in tech, so I should totally make $150k/year, but BART workers? Absolutely not. They only provide a fundamental service to my daily life, that’s not worth much at all.

      It’s time to shut down unions, so we can finally get to complete corporate exploitation of workers. They should just be happy they have jobs.

      • Dexter Wong

        I suppose you long for the bad old days when bakers worked 12 hours a day and six days a week. When the bakers’ union petitioned the Supreme Court for 8 hours a day, the Chief Justice denied their petition, saying it was best for men not to be bakers.

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