BART union leader: 'We're not close'

BART trains will be running again beginning Friday afternoon after the transit district and its striking unions agreed to a 30-day extension of the current contract.

Shortly before 11 p.m. Thursday, representatives from BART and the two unions that went on strike Monday announced that workers will go back to their jobs and trains will begin rolling by 3 p.m. Friday. BART will continue to run its bus service Friday morning.

The decision came at the request of state Labor Secretary Marty Morgenstern and state mediators.

Regular train service to 400,000 daily riders in the Bay Area will operate during the monthlong extension, officials said. But the contract dispute is far from over. When asked how many contract issues remain to be resolved, Morgenstern could only chuckle.

"I don't have that much time," he said.

For the past four days, mediators have been trying to bring the two sides together, but finally agreed Thursday that it was more important to get the trains running.

"They recognized that there were very complicated issues that would take more time to resolve," said Josie Mooney, a union spokeswoman.

Gov. Jerry Brown was watching the negotiations closely, Morgenstern said.

"The governor is very pleased that both sides accepted the recommendation," he added.

The secretary thanked the unions for agreeing to end their strike, at least for now.

"It's not easy to come back off a strike without a contract," Morgenstern said.

Thursday's agreement doesn't settle anything. While BART is back in service, there's no indication that the two sides are any closer to an agreement then they were before the unions walked out.

"Unfortunately, the issues that brought us to this point remain unresolved," said BART General Manager Grace Crunican. "We still have a wide gap of disagreements to bridge over the next 30 days."

What the four-day strike and long, fruitless hours of negotiation did bring, however, was plenty of mistrust and ill-feelings that will have to be dealt with before the new Aug. 4 contract deadline.

"The last week has been a complete waste of time," said Antonette Bryant, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555, which represents train operators and station agents. "We're still waiting for BART to respond to a proposal we made last Sunday."

The unions will go back to the bargaining table on Monday and drastic changes in BART's bargaining positions are needed if the contract dispute is going to be settled, she added.

"BART needs to understand they have 30 days to right the ship," Bryant said.

Transit agency officials and the unions met for nearly 12 hours Thursday before announcing the plan to stretch out the negotiations and send the strikers back to work.

The surprising development came just hours after a leader of striking BART workers accused the transit agency of trying to break the unions, and said negotiations to end the walkout were going nowhere.

"We're not close to an agreement," Pete Castelli, executive director of Service Employees International Union Local 1021, said at a union rally at the Lake Merritt BART Station in Oakland.

Castelli, whose union represents more than 1,400 BART mechanics, maintenance workers and professional staff, spoke about two hours after BART and striking unions resumed discussions at 11 a.m. They broke for dinner shortly before 6 p.m. and said they would return later in the evening for more talks at the Caltrans building on Grand Avenue in Oakland.

But there was no hint of an agreement.

'We're fired up'

Castelli said BART management has been working with antilabor consultants to tear down the unions.

"We're fired up because we're under attack after BART forced us into a strike so that they can impose a contract upon us," Castelli said. "BART wants to keep us out on strike and break us by turning the public against us."

A spokesman for the transit agency denied there was any attempt to get rid of BART's unions.

"We most definitely are not trying to break the union," said spokesman Rick Rice. "We're sitting in negotiations with mediators trying to reach a fair and sustainable contract."

Rice declined to say whether BART negotiators were unhappy with the pace of the contract talks.

State mediators "have asked us not to discuss the negotiations, and we intend to follow the rules," he said.

Playing to the media

Much of the union's briefing was done with a wink and a nod toward the mediators' request. As reporters and camera crews gathered around, Mooney, an SEIU negotiator, reminded journalists that this was an update on negotiations to union members, "although you're welcome to listen."

There was nothing conciliatory in the update, or any indication that a compromise was coming. Instead, it was a smorgasbord of red-meat rhetoric, warning strikers that BART was refusing to bargain in good faith and was lying about the issues in an effort to turn commuters against the union.

Castelli, speaking directly to reporters, complained that BART negotiators were avoiding the thorniest issues.

"They keep bringing up the small stuff, but we're not even talking about the main issues," he said.

BART's stance is part of a larger effort by Bay Area governments to get tough on public employees, Castelli said.

"When you tear down BART workers, saying they're making too much and have too many benefits, you're tearing down all workers," he said. "People need to realize that what BART workers get taken away is coming out of your pockets next."

Underlying the talks is concern among SEIU workers and the 900 members of the other striking union, the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555, that BART is making plans to impose a contract on workers.

Typically, management does not impose a contract unless negotiations are at impasse. At that time, an employer can make a "last, best and final offer," and impose it for strikers when they return to work. Imposing a contract does not, however, force striking workers to go back to their jobs.

Despite the unions' concerns, both sides agree that negotiations are not at impasse and the talks continue.

On the agenda

BART management has scheduled - and canceled - two special board meetings for each day of the strike, with an agenda that includes items calling for "unilateral implementation of certain terms and conditions of employment for employees" represented by the two striking unions.

It's simply a precaution dictated by state open meeting laws that require 24 hours' notice before a public body such as the BART board can act, said Alicia Trost, a spokeswoman for the transit agency.

"It's procedural, in case we're going to have to do it," she said. The agenda item "doesn't mean we're out to impose a contract."

Yet that's exactly what the board did four years ago when train operators with the Amalgamated Transit Union rejected BART's "best and final offer," which the agency's other unions had accepted.

The train operators immediately set a strike date, then settled hours before anyone walked out.

Issues in play

The key issues in the strike are pay, and health care and pension costs.

The transit agency, with an annual budget of $1.5 billion, says rising health care and pension costs are a threat. It wants employees to contribute to their pension and pick up more health care costs beyond the flat $92 a month they now pay, regardless of how many people are covered by the plan.

BART also is trying to save for $15 billion in system improvements it says it intends to make over the next 20 to 25 years.

Previous wage freeze

The union argues its employees deserve a raise. The agency is seeing record ridership that averages about 400,000 passengers on weekdays, and the unions contend that employees' efforts have helped BART reach those numbers while maintaining strong on-time performance.

The unions also point out that four years ago, when BART faced a budget deficit of $310 million, workers agreed to a wage freeze and concessions that trimmed labor costs by $100 million.

Strike hits 5th day

Friday's commute: While many workers are taking a long weekend, the Giants game Friday evening at AT&T park could cause complications. A11

Transit options: AC Transit will continue expanded service, but ferries will operate on a lighter weekend schedule. A11

Negotiations: The issues dividing BART and its unions. A11

Source: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/BART-union-leader-We-re-not-close-4647084.php

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