The San Francisco Bay Area is being hit with another transit strike after negotiations once again broke down between Bay Area Rapid Transit management and the unions that represent workers. The unions reported being close to agreement on pay and benefits, but
could not agree on work rules:
“They want to fundamentally and significantly change the conditions under which we work,” said Roxanne Sanchez, president of the SEIU Local 1021, which along with Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555, are the two biggest unions at BART.
Sanchez said the unions want BART managers to agree to arbitration on work rules. BART management has declined to do that, preferring negotiation.
Management is spinning furiously, trying to make this look like the unions' fault, but when one side is willing to go to a neutral third party for resolution and the other isn't ... well, you do the math.
The strike is expected to once again gridlock the entire area, hurting workers and businesses and causing a serious environmental impact as more people drive (and sit in traffic). There can be no doubt that these workers, who have not had a raise in years and have made significant concessions to help the BART system overcome a deficit, are enormously important to the area's economy. Yet in a replay of the story we see so often, management has demands for concessions and blame for the workers, rather than negotiating in good faith.