Off The Rails: SEIU 1021 Pres Sanchez "We spent a lot of time explaining the last contract, and after this I'm not sure we have the goodwill and cooperation of the workers anymore," Sanchez said. "They are really angry and upset."
Off The Rails: SEIU 1021 Pres Sanchez "We spent a lot of time explaining the last contract, and after this I'm not sure we have the goodwill and cooperation of the workers anymore," Sanchez said. "They are really angry and upset."
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/Gotham-s-cost-to-save-...
Off the rails: BART board directors appear poised to reject their own contract offer to unions Thursday - a move that will send the eight-month, strike-ridden negotiating process into uncharted territory.
"There is no way I can support the contract the way it is," said Tom Blalock, whose district covers southern Alameda County.
"I can't vote for a contract that goes over $67 million," said Director Joel Keller, whose district covers eastern Contra Costa County.
At issue: a "mistake" in which BART tentatively agreed to give workers as much as six weeks a year of paid family leave.
Officials from BART and its two biggest unions met Monday to go over the cost of the leave benefit - which, depending on which side you talk to, could cost anywhere from $1.45 million to $11 million a year. In the worst-case scenario, that would push the total cost of the four-year deal for BART to more than $100 million.
Whatever the cost, it appears that a number of BART directors - especially from the more conservative areas in the East Bay - aren't ready to vote for the deal or give more to workers in return for dropping the leave provision from the contract.
If directors reject the pact, it means everyone heads back to the bargaining table. Eventually, it also means going back to BART workers to ratify any new deal.
And that has union leaders nervous.
"It's always unpredictable when it goes to a vote," said Roxanne Sanchez, president ofService Employee International Union Local 1021, which represents BART mechanics, clerical workers and custodians.
For starters, workers weren't all that happy with contract provisions calling for them to kick in more for their health and pensi0n benefits.
"We spent a lot of time explaining the last contract, and after this I'm not sure we have the goodwill and cooperation of the workers anymore," Sanchez said. "They are really angry and upset."
The problem is compounded for the other major BART union, Amalgamated Transit Workers Local 1055, representing train operators and station agents, because it is in the midst of leadership elections.
"I'm still tying to wrap my head around some kind of solution before Thursday's vote," Sanchez said.
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