Local News

OAKLAND (CBS 5 / KCBS / AP / BCN) ― Leaders of BART's two biggest unions said Thursday night that they will be taking BART management's latest offer to their members for a vote next week.

Larry Gerber, the chief negotiator for the BART chapter of Local 1021 of the Service Employees International Union, which represents about 1,400 mechanics, custodians, safety inspectors and clerical employees, said he thinks the offer is "not very good," but he wants his union members to have the chance to vote on it.

Gerber said if his union's members reject the offer, the union will then ask Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to declare a 60-day cooling off period.

Jesse Hunt, the president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555, which represents about 900 train operators, station agents and power workers, said he will also be presenting management's offer to his members for a vote.

Union leaders said they have also provided their own offer to BART management, which management was reviewing late Thursday night.

As a midnight deadline loomed Thursday, unions representing 2,824 Bay Area Rapid Transit workers said there was no new contract agreement yet and signaled that a strike was possible — but labor leaders promised BART riders that it would not occur on Friday.

"I'm confident commuters will have a way to get to work tomorrow. If talks broke down I don't think we'd go on strike, we're willing to go beyond the midnight deadline," said Lisa Isler, president of Local 1021 of the Service Employees International Union, which represents about 1,200 mechanics, custodians, safety inspectors and clerical employees.

After the existing BART contract had expired on June 30, both sides agreed to extend the contract through midnight Thursday.

Under the contract, the unions must provide 72 hours' notice before going on strike. But after the contract expires, there would be no such requirement and workers could walk off the job at any point.

However, union leaders said at a late afternoon news conference that they would give commuters "reasonable notice" - likely more than a day - of any strike.

Negotiators also said there were other options, aside from a possible strike, if the current contract expired before a new deal was reached.

Larry Gerber, the chief negotiator for Local 1021, said those included extending the existing contract yet again or asking the government to impose a 60-day cooling off period.

Isler indicated that the unions didn't contemplate going on strike immediately after the deadline expired, saying, "I don't want to put the community in that position in the next two days."

Isler was joined at the news conference by Jesse Hunt, the president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555, which represents about 900 train operators, station agents and power workers, and representatives from Local 3993 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents about 200 middle managers.

"We are cautiously optimistic at the bargaining table" Isler said, but she also added that the unions "are ready to mobilize" if they decide to strike.

Linton Johnson, the chief spokesman for BART's management, said he thought the most likely scenario was that negotiations would continue after the contract expired.

Johnson said management's priority remained trying to achieve $100 million in labor cost savings by having employees contribute more of the cost of their benefits, such as health care and retirement, and by eliminating what he called "wasteful" work rules.

The talks come as BART struggles with an operating shortfall that had grown by another $60 million, the transit agency said Thursday.

What had been a $250 million deficit over the next four years has grown to $310 million because of declining sales tax revenue and lower ridership, BART General Manager Dorothy Dugger told board members at a meeting Thursday.

"The economic picture is getting worse month by month," she said.

Johnson said he was not sure how the worsened outlook would affect contract talks or whether management would ask for even more concessions from the unions.

Isler said the new budget estimate "was a big surprise to us today" and indicated that management "miscalculated by $60 million" when contract talks began on April 1.

However, she said management hadn't asked for any additional concessions so far.

Gerber, who's been through negotiations with BART management many times, said this year's sessions "are the hardest talks I've been involved in."

"When there's a target of saving $100 million, it's all pretty negative," Gerber said. 

SEIU Local 1021, ATU Local 1555 and AFSCME Local 3993 are the three largest of BART's five labor unions and all voted by overwhelming margins last month to authorize a strike.

The two smallest unions represent BART police officers and managers.

The BART Police Managers Association represents sergeants, lieutenants and commanders and the BART Police Officers Association represents rank-and-file officers.

However, members of the police unions are barred from going on strike.

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