San Francisco’s public transportation came to a stop on Monday as Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) unions went on strike, affecting about 400,000 commuters and marking the first halt of the train service in 16 years.
With no trains in service to take them to work,
Monday morning commuters had to find alternate ways
to travel. Roads quickly became congested and highways and
bridges were clogged. Transportation officials estimate that an
additional 60,000 vehicles are on the road because of the strike,
AP reports.
The walkout came after union leaders and management failed to
produce a new contract by midnight on Sunday. BART
unions represent about 2,400 train operations, station agents,
maintenance workers and staff, who average about $71,000 in base
salary and $10,000 in yearly overtime pay.
Representatives for the Almalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local
1555 and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1021
demanded that BART propose a new contract before their current
ones expired on Sunday. The unions were asking for a
5 percent annual pay raise over the next three years.
“If there are no new proposals by midnight, then
workers will walk off the job as soon as the trains are safely
put to bed,” Josie Mooney, an SEIU negotiator, told AP.
“A strike is always the last resort and we have done
everything in our power to avoid it,” Mooney said in a
statement. “Unfortunately, BART seems intent on forcing a
strike. We are disappointed that BART’s failure to bargain
honestly and fairly means that hundreds of thousands of Bar Area
commuters have to suffer.”
BART spokesman Rick Rice told AP that the transportation agency
had initially offered a 4 percent pay raise over four years, and
then raised that offer to 8 percent. The proposal would have been
in addition to a 1 percent raise that employees were already
scheduled to receive Monday. The transit agency also
claims it offered to reduce the contributions employees were
required to make to their pensions, and lower the costs of health
insurance premiums. But ATU Local President Antonnete
Bryanton Sunday told reporters at a
midnight news conference that BART’s latest proposal
is not an actual pay increase, but rather “surface
bargaining”.
“Our members aren’t interested in disrupting the Bay Area, but
management has put us in a position where we have no choice,”
Bryant said.
Local SEIU union President Roxanne Sanchez said that workers are
fed up, and not willing to compromise their ideals.
“Years of layoffs have affected public safety and
services,” she said in a statement. “Crippling cuts have
not just made our jobs more difficult, but put undue strain on
our livelihoods, our families and our communities.”
On Sunday, BART posted notices at its stations and
online, warning commuters that a strike may begin the following
day. Other transit agencies were already expecting the walkout,
and on Friday urged Bay area residents that they
should consider carpooling, taking buses or ferries, leaving
earlier to drive to work, or to work from home if they can.
“The public doesn’t deserve to be punished,” Rice said in
a statement posted on the BART website. “We are sorry they
have decided to strike despite the fact we are willing to
negotiate.”
While union and management leaders continue to negotiate, Bay
area commuters are struggling to get to work. Richard Graham, a
43-year-old hotel banquet manager who usually takes the BART to
work, told Fox News that he might be facing a three-hour drive to
reach the hotel on Monday.
“I can’t stop thinking about it,” he said on
Sunday, dreading his drive from Pleasant Hill to downtown
San Francisco. “It would take me 2 ½ to 3 hours if I drive in
to work. Then I’ve got to find parking, and that might cost me
another 40 bucks, if there are any spots left.”
The last BART strike occurred in 1997, causing a system-wide
shutdown and resulting in a four-year contract that offered a 7
percent raise. It is unclear how long the country’s fifth-largest
rail system will be out of service this year, but the last strike
left commuters without a train system for six days, and a 1976
strike kept the system shut down for two weeks.
Mooney warns that if BART does not step up its offers, it could
be a long time before the trains start running again.
“If BART continues to do ‘surface bargaining,’ then we will
not come to an agreement,” she said.
Republished with permission from:: RT