Vol. 77/No. 27      July 15, 2013

Negotiators for the Service Employees International Union Local 1021 and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 did not reach an agreement with BART management as local television stations counted down to the contract expiration midnight, June 30. The system, which services 375,000 passenger trips per day, has been shut down tight since.

A lot of drivers were blowing their horns in support of the BART strikers at the picket line outside a maintenance facility in this town just south of San Francisco.

“We haven’t had a raise in five years,” station agent and ATU member Robinette Williams told the Militant. “We are the people that make the system work.”

“We doubled our wage increase offer,” BART spokesperson Alicia Trost told KQED radio July 1.

The unions proposed a 23 percent wage raise over four years. BART’s latest offer is 8 percent.

“They put a 5 percent wage increase on page one and take it away on page four,” said SEIU chief negotiator Josie Mooney on the KQED program. “And the other 3 percent is contingent on factors which they acknowledge won’t happen.”

The San Jose Mercury News editorialized July 1 that union demands were outrageous, setting the tone for bourgeois public opinion. “They complain that they have gone without raises for several years. So have many Bay Area workers, including many of the taxpayers and riders who pay BART salaries.” The paper complained about “out-of-control overtime,” and added, “As to union claims that this is all about safety — how stupid do they think the public is?”

The unions are arguing for stronger safety protections, including lighting in the tunnels, stations and parking lots. “In my seven years at BART, I’ve been assaulted three times,” said Williams. There were more than 100 physical assaults on BART employees at five stations over the last three years.

As to overtime, Williams added, “That’s a staffing issue. If we had adequate staffing there would be no overtime.”

Striking BART workers joined more than 1,000 Oakland city workers at a solidarity rally July 1. SEIU workers there were engaged in a one-day strike, shutting down libraries and other city departments.

“Every worker whether union or not deserves to be paid a good wage,” said Alain Hollie, a train operator and member of ATU Local 1555, who took part in the rally. “Our labor creates the wealth,” she said, answering the charge that BART workers are overpaid.
 
 
Related article:
On the Picket Line
 
 
 
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