Local News

OAKLAND (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ― A Bay Area Rapid Transit strike was set for Sunday night after the agency's board of directors voted unanimously Thursday to unilaterally implement terms and conditions of employment for members of one of its largest unions.

The union representing about 900 train operators and station agents said it planned to go on strike at the close of business Sunday against the nation's fifth largest commuter rail system -- which carries 340,000 commuters a day.

The move was expected to leave many of those hundreds of thousands of commuters stranded on both sides of the San Francisco Bay and clog the area's highways and bridges next week.

Jesse Hunt, the head of the Amalgamated Transit Union's Local 1555, announced the union's intention to strike at a news conference late Thursday afternoon after talks with BART's management broke down.

"We believe that management has not bargained in good faith throughout this," Hunt said, "we have no choice" but to go on strike.

The union membership rejected a contract proposal earlier this week by a margin of about two-to-one that would have frozen salaries, capped health benefits and imposed work rules intended to cut down on overtime.

The union returned to the bargaining table Wednesday, but BART management declared an impasse. The union decided to strike after BART's board voted unanimously on Thursday to impose terms on members that Hunt said would amount to a 7 percent pay cut.

Hunt said ATU members were going on strike because "it's matter of fairness and equity" and the union members feel they are being forced to accept "an unfair burden."

Hunt added that the union was also considering going to court to challenge the legality of BART imposing terms and conditions of employment.

Asked whether negotiations were still an option, he said: "Anything's possible at this point." But he noted that no contract talks were currently scheduled.

BART chief spokesman Linton Johnson said the union would have to "offer something" to break the impasse. 

"This is completely in the union's court," said Johnson. "If they go on strike, it's all on them. It's their choosing to throw our riders out in the street."

Johnson said the BART board's 9-0 vote to impose employment terms came after union negotiators rejected BART's "last, best and final" contract offer on Wednesday night.

Johnson said ATU leaders rejected the offer even though management retracted a previous proposal to eliminate six floating holidays and vacation days.

BART is facing a projected $310 million deficit over the next four years and board member Joel Keller noted that "all of the economic indicators are going down," including BART's ridership and sales tax revenues.

As a result, BART management said it wants to reduce its labor costs by $100 million.

Johnson said the board's vote "was regrettable but had to be done to stop the bleeding," pointing out the transit agency was losing money daily due to the cost of labor negotiations and the cost of continuing under the terms of the previous contract.

"This is not the outcome I would have hoped to be announcing today. However, we must take action to achieve savings and put the district on more stable ground," added BART general manager Dorothy Dugger.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom called on BART and the union "to get back to the negotiating table and reach an agreement," saying a strike would affect businesses across the region.

"Halting service to BART's 340,000 daily riders will hamstring Bay Area commuters, clog our freeways, and affect businesses across the region as workers and consumers are left stranded," Newsom said.

He added, "All jurisdictions are feeling the pain of the tough economic climate and a BART strike that strands riders will only make it harder for everyone who lives and works in the Bay Area and relies on public transportation."

Schwarzenegger, who previously said he would not order a cooling-off period in the contract talks, said "both sides need to resolve their disputes and come to an agreement before taking drastic action that will have an immediate effect on the daily lives of so many Californians." 

The governor said the state mediators were available to facilitate negotiations and help reach an agreement.

Two other BART unions approved new four-year contracts earlier this week. But their leaders said Thursday that they would honor Local 1555's decision to strike and not cross the picket line.

The other unions are Service Employees International Union Local 1021, which represents about 1,500 mechanics, custodians, safety inspectors and clerical employees, and American Federation of Local, State and Municipal Employees Union Local 3993, which represents about 200 middle managers.

BART has more than 100 miles of rail line. The agency planned to set up a bus service Monday for a strike, Johnson said.

The California Department of Transportation said it would have more people on traffic duty Monday to monitor stop lights and clear obstructions, said Lauren Wonder, a department spokeswoman. The agency also planned on having more toll booth workers during the morning rush hour and delay construction work until after peak hours.

"The idea is to keep traffic flowing as much as possible," she said. 

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission which plans, coordinates and finances transportation in the Bay Area's nine counties said commuters should try to carpool, use public transportation, telecommute or even delay their trips.

Other transportation agencies, including AC Transit, which provides bus service between various East Bay locations and the San Francisco Transbay Terminal at Mission and Second streets, planned to increase service in case of a strike.

Alameda-Contra Costa Transit spokesman Clarence Johnson said the East Bay bus line would also deploy extra resources to back up existing services.

"We will have people directing commuters so there's no confusion about where they should go," Johnson said. "We also stepped up maintenance to make sure all of our vehicles are road ready. We're doing all we can to make sure our riders experience as little inconvenience as possible."

SamTrans developed a contingency plan in the event of a strike that called for routing its buses out of BART stations and running a commute-hour shuttle to a temporary transit center where passengers can connect with San Francisco Municipal Railway service, according to officials.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency said it too had developed a plan to help connect commuters with Caltrain, SamTrans, AC Transit and ferry services once they're in the city.

One-way trips on the Blue and Gold Fleet ferries cost $6.50 and leave from Sausalito, Angel Island, Oakland/ Alameda, Tiburon and Vallejo to San Francisco about every half-hour or hour, depending on the destination, between 6 a.m. and 9:25 p.m.

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