BART SEIU1021 Concession Queen Roxanne Meeting With BART Union Buster Radulovich

BART SEIU1021 Concession Queen Roxanne Meeting With BART Union Buster Radulovich
Outlook bleak for quick end to BART strike
http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Outlook-bleak-for-quick-end-t...
No end in sight: 1 union will vote on proposal - and a 'no' is likely

James Tensuan, SFC

Two protesters who wished to remain unidentified march around the Lake Merritt BART Station in Oakland, Calif. during the strike on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2013. The BART strike has forced many Bay Area commuters to find alternate modes of transportation.
Kristen V. Brown

11:20 AM

At least one BART union agreed Saturday to put the transit agency's contract proposal to a vote, but commuters looking for a quick end to the 2-day-old strike should hold off on the celebrations.

Speaking from the entrance of the shuttered Pittsburg BART Station, Antonette Bryant, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555, said she expects that vote to result in a "resounding no."

"BART has left us no choice but to reject their final offer," she said, speaking with a backup chorus of 50 or so union members, many in purple shirts reading, "We make BART work."

The next move, Bryant said, is up to BART.

On Saturday, there were few indications that either BART or its unions will be settling the strike anytime soon. Even the vote, which transit district officials had demanded, can't take place until sometime later in the week, Bryant said.

A spokeswoman from Service Employees International Union Local 1021, BART's largest union, declined to say whether that union also would allow a vote on the contract.

But sources close to the negotiations said that Tom Radulovich, president of the BART Board of Directors, and Roxanne Sanchez, head of the SEIU local, met privately Saturday afternoon to discuss ways to get both sides back to the bargaining table.

The two were talking at about 2 p.m. when they learned that two BART workers had been struck by a train and killed near the Walnut Creek BART Station.

The labor unions and BART management continued their exhausting finger-pointing routine, giving strap-hangers little hope that trains might be rolling before the Monday commute.

With no negotiations scheduled, both sides said Saturday that they were waiting for the other side to budge, an institutional game of chicken.

"BART has orchestrated this commuter nightmare," the transit workers said in an open letter to commuters.

The contract offer BART wants the unions to put to a vote includes a 12 percent raise over four years, a 4 percent pension contribution by the final year of the contract and a 9.5 percent increase in health care premiums.

Train operators and station agents typically make salaries in the mid-$60,000s.

Renewed talks aren't on the to-do list.

"Right now they have not invited us back to the table," Bryant said. "We are waiting to hear from the mediator."

BART spokesperson Rick Rice said Saturday that while there has been "some communication between union leadership and the board," the transit agency "still needs union leaders to make some changes."

BART workers walked off the job Friday morning after contract negotiations collapsed over work rules.

The transit agency's 470-page book of rules governs how it runs its trains and treats its workers. BART wants to make changes to some of those rules in order to cut costs. Union leaders argue that giving BART the power to change those rules could endanger and exploit workers.

On Saturday, both sides appeared unwilling to move on the issue.

"We are willing to have conversations," said Rice. "But we need the work rules."

Bryant called the requested work-rule changes a "poison pill" that BART sprung at the last minute, killing what she said was a potential deal.

The first day of the strike saw a 26 percent increase in traffic on the Bay Bridge compared with last week, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. More than double the number of people rode the San Francisco Bay Ferry system Friday compared with the week before. BART said the 125 buses it chartered from nine East Bay stations carried 4,400 passengers. BART carries an average of 400,000 riders on an average weekday.

At the Pittsburg BART Station, transit worker union members rallied briefly before BART police kicked them off the property, saying they didn't have permission to be there.

Union members waved signs with slogans such as "safety first" and "stop the violence."

Avi Singh, 31, is a train operator out of the Hayward yard. He hasn't even been full-time at BART for a year yet. Like his riders, he said, he wants an agreement.

"I just want it to get done," Singh said.

Sunday events
With BART unions on strike, getting around to major Sunday events will require extra time and planning ahead.

Treasure Island Music Festival

Sunday, noon to 11 p.m. Free shuttles to the festival from Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco starting at 11 a.m. Heavy traffic expected on the Bay Bridge. Parking on the island for the festival only allowed with an island parking pass: $40 for one day, $70 for two days. Applies to cars, motorcycles and vans.

Nike Women's Marathon

Sunday, 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Starts from Union Square and finishes at the Great Highway between Lincoln Way and JFK Drive. Numerous streets will be closed for the runners, and there will be extensive Muni reroutes throughout San Francisco during the race.

Fiesta on the Hill

Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (street closures from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.) Bernal Heights street fair.

Kristen V. Brown is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: kbrown@sfchronicle.com

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