SF Chronicle Calls Out BART management's big mistake and calls for acceptance of contract deal

SF Chronicle Calls Out BART management's big mistake and calls for acceptance of contract deal
BART management's big mistake
http://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/BART-management-s-...

Ben Margot, AP

Bay Area Rapid Transit passengers wait for a BART train to depart the Fruitvale station Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013, in Oakland, Calif. A contentious, on-again, off-again Bay Area transit strike infuriated hundreds of thousands of commuters forced to wait hours for overcrowded buses and ferries and brought grave questions when two workers were killed. The labor clash now appears to be heading toward resolution, but unions now face calls to ban transit strikes, and political leaders are struggling to assure communities they won't be economically and socially jeopardized again by union disputes. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
November 19, 2013

Immediately after reaching a deal that ended last month's transit strike, some of BART's top managers were privately insisting they got the better end of the bargain. They claimed to be actually happy with the public perception that they caved in giving workers a 15.4 percent raise over four years.

They were hoping the public and union would not focus on the fine print that was a coup for management: the tightening of work rules that would root out costly inefficiencies and allow the transit district to bring in new technologies.

BART's managers wanted the "unions won" narrative to remain long enough for the workers to ratify their contracts. And they did.

It turns out that management should have scoured the 470-page contract's fine print before signing off on the deal.

In an almost breathtaking lapse of competence, BART management has since realized that the deal provides workers with a new benefit of up to six weeks of paid leave to deal with serious personal or family medical problems or to bond with a newborn or newly adopted child. Under the old contract, workers were allowed up to 12 weeks of such leave, but it had to be taken with vacation, sick leave or other accrued time off.

The new benefit could cost the district up to $44.2 million over the next four years, though the union maintains it will be much lower.

How could this have happened?

"Mistakes happen in the business world and in life every day," BART management said in a statement. Talk about absence of accountability: Management went on to suggest the provision was part of an agreement erroneously created by a "temporary employee."

So the question becomes: Should the elected Board of Directors reject the worker-approved contract and reopen negotiations?

We say no.

The unions have adamantly opposed a return to the bargaining table - a deal is a deal, they insist - which should tell you all you need to know about which side really got the better of the other.

Should the riders and taxpayers who are going to pay for this contract put their faith in management to come out of another round of negotiations with anything better?

We say no.

BART's directors should train their attention on how BART's top management and the chief negotiator brought in for $399,000 allowed a potentially $44.2 million mistake to happen.