SEIU 1021 Members Testify About BART’s Alarming Pattern of Disregard for Worker Safety

SEIU 1021 Members Testify About BART’s Alarming Pattern of Disregard for Worker Safety
http://www.seiu1021.org/2013/11/07/seiu-1021-members-testify-about-barts...
Posted by SEIU1021 on November 7, 2013

Assemblymembers Bob Wieckowski (D-Fremont), Roger Hernandez (D-Covina), Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco), and Rob Bonta (D-Oakland) at the Nov 7 hearing on BART worker safety
Before elected leaders from across California, SEIU 1021 members provided dramatic testimony about BART’ Management’s ongoing practice of fighting state safety regulations and disregarding workers’ safety concerns. Joined by representatives from California’s worker safety enforcement and regulatory agencies, BART workers exposed Management’s costly challenges to state safety laws and recalcitrance to addressing safety hazards.

Frontline workers have repeatedly identified safety problems that the district refuses to fix; instead of addressing these life and death issues, BART Management has chosen to pay tens of thousands in fines or hire attorneys to fight safety laws.

SEIU 1021 BART Chapter President John Arantes spoke on the transit agency’s unwillingness to address workers’ serious concerns: “Workers that do the work and know the dangers should have a say in developing the rules and procedures that keep us, and the thousands of riders we serve each day, safe. And each year we bring our concerns to Management, but most go unanswered. For this reason we brought these matters to the bargaining.”

Read the testimony of John Arantes, BART transit vehicle mechanic and SEIU 1021 BART Chapter President

“There is a culture of shortcuts and lip service to safety,” said Antonette Bryant, a station agent and the President of ATU 1555. “The rules are there, but they’re bent and twisted by Management to meet on-time service. There are countless injuries and senseless worker fatalities that could have been prevented. BART Management is failing to protect workers and the public with their callousness. It’s time they to fix this broken system and work on a process that serves the workers’ and the public’s good.”

“Developing a culture of safety depends heavily on lessons learned from close calls, and for this reason Management needs to listen to the men and women who risk their lives everyday to serve thousands of riders,” said Saul Almanza, “Management must be willing and open to recommendations from these workers and protect them when they report the near misses and when they exercise their health and safety rights as workers.”

Read the testimony of Saul Almanza, BART Employee Development Specialist and SEIU 1021 Professional Chapter Vice President

George Popyack, Executive Director of AFSCME Council 57, echoed the need for BART Management to start listening and paying attention to workers’ concerns and offered additional solutions: “Instead of the single point of failure risk in BART’s safety procedures, and the pattern of BART management fighting regulators and shifting responsibilities onto workers, we would like to see BART adopt a double or triple layer of protection, including an adequate number of Train Controllers and other staff, new technology, and procedures which BART workers have the experience to know are effective.”