ATU 1555 Union Pres Says ""So any talk about a strike or anything like that is not in ATU's vocabulary." Despite More Union Busting Provocation Against BART Workers

ATU 1555 Union Pres Says ""So any talk about a strike or anything like that is not in ATU's vocabulary." Despite More Union Busting Provocation Against BART Workers
BART unions balk at reopening contract over error
http://www.sfgate.com/politics/joegarofoli/article/BART-unions-balk-at-r...
Joe Garofoli
Published 9:11 pm, Saturday, November 16, 2013
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Under a disputed contract provision, which officials said was approved in error, BART would pay for the first six weeks of leave to deal with serious personal or family medical problems. Photo: Raphael Kluzniok, The Chronicle

Union leaders said Saturday that they have no desire to reopen their contract after BART directors said it includes coverage of paid medical leave that the transit district didn't intend to agree to, a mistake that could cost the district millions.

Both sides say they don't expect the disagreement to stop the trains from running - yet. But it will bring several days of tense internal discussions on both sides, with the BART board scheduled to vote Thursday on the contract.

Up to now, BART workers have been allowed to take up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave to deal with serious personal or family medical problems or to bond with a newborn or newly adopted child, but they had to use sick leave, vacation days or other accrued time off. But under the disputed contract provision, which transit district officials said was approved by accident, BART would now pay for the first six weeks of that leave.

BART staff caught the mistake in a last review of the contract. On Friday, the BART board instructed General Manager Grace Crunican to reopen negotiations with the unions over the disputed provision.

"Mistakes happen in the business world and in life every day," BART management said in a statement. "That is not an excuse - it is just a fact. During a final review process, the mistake was caught by staff before the BART Board voted on the contract and it will be fully vetted before the contract is considered."

In its chronology of the events leading up to the error, BART said that on July 11, the tentative agreement was "erroneously created by temporary employee."

But union leaders said the tentative agreement on the disputed contract section was signed in July by Tom Hock, BART's chief negotiator, Paul Oversier, the district's assistant general manager, and Rudy Medina, BART's department manager of labor relations. Hock, a consultant brought in to handle the contract negotiations, is no longer with the district,

"This was not a glitch. This was not a mistake. There is no temp involved. And for them to (propose reopening the contract) is totally, totally disgusting," Antonette Bryant, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555, said Saturday at a news conference at the Pittsburg BART Station. "Everybody knows in Negotiations 101, you read everything before you sign it. And they signed it. No, I don't think it's a mistake," she said.

Service Employees International Union Local 1021 Executive Director Pete Castelli said: "Once again, BART management is moving the goal post to a fair agreement. Once again, the workers and the riders have been played by a management team simply unwilling to settle this contract."

BART estimates that it could cost the district up to $44.2 million over the span of the four-year contract, although other estimates provided to the directors are much lower.

But union officials said Saturday that BART's figure is a gross overstatement. The union's preliminary estimates have the medical leave provision costing the district $1.4 million a year, or "lint in their pocket," Bryant said.

"It's a small number" of employees who take family leave, Bryant said, although she didn't know exactly how many do. "But I know that 3,300 people are not going on maternity leave, are not bonding with children."

Bryant said she doesn't think there is a chance of a strike. "We have a deal. And we're going forward with the fact that we have this deal," she said. "So any talk about a strike or anything like that is not in ATU's vocabulary."

Joe Garofoli is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.comTwitter: @joegarofoli