Local News

OAKLAND (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ― Bay Area Rapid Transit trains continued to roll Friday after leaders of the transit system's two largest unions agreed to let their members vote on the latest proposal from management.

With a pledge not to strike set to expire at midnight, management and union officials met into the night to try to reach a deal.

Late Thursday, negotiators for the Service Employees International Union Local 1021 and for the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 emerged from the talks and announced that they would have their members vote on management's latest offer sometime next week.

Speaking to reporters outside the negotiation site in downtown Oakland, SEIU's chief negotiator Larry Gerber said he thought management's offer "is not very good" but he wanted to give his members a chance to vote on it.

Jesse Hunt, the president of ATU Local 1555, said he also believed "it's not a good offer."

BART's union workers have been working under a contract that expired June 30. Both management and labor representatives have been at odds over pay, work rules and health care issues.

Gerber said if union members vote to reject the offer, union leaders would then ask Cailfornia Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to declare a 60-day cooling off period in the lengthy and bitter contract talks, which began on April 1 and were assisted by state mediators the past two weeks.

Gerber expressed frustration with the negotiations, saying, "We continue to go round and round with the district" and alleging that management wants to "rob Peter to pay Paul."

SEIU Local 1021 represents about 1,400 mechanics, custodians, safety inspectors and clerical employees while ATU Local 1555 represents about 900 train operators.

But the leader of a third BART union said she needed more information before she calls for a vote of her membership.

Jean Hamilton, the president of Local 3993 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents about 200 middle managers, said early Friday, "I don't believe we can take management's offer to our members yet" because management hadn't provided all the information she wanted about costs and other topics.

Hamilton added, "I continue to be disappointed in management's lack of details," noting, "It's hard to recommend the offer when you don't have enough information to explain it."

BART spokesman Linton Johnson looked on the bright side though.

"It looks like the unions have accepted an offer from us on the table which preserves their salaries and also helps us achieve the $100 million in labor cost savings that we were seeking," Johnson said.

He said management's offer called for employees to contribute more of the cost of their health care and retirement benefits and also eliminated work rules that BART believed were costly and inefficient.

Johnson said management's proposal called for employees to have their wages frozen for three years and then get a small raise in the fourth and final year of their new contract.

Hunt said that although the two largest unions will vote on management's proposal, they also presented a counteroffer to have a shorter two-year contract that would include $60 million in labor cost savings as well as $700 million in medical cost savings.

Hunt said the two unions were waiting for management's response to their proposal, but Johnson said their offer was "a moot point" and management wouldn't look at it until after the unions vote on management's proposal.

In addition to the three large unions that represent most BART employees, there also are two small unions that represent BART police officers and managers.

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

(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press and Bay City News contributed to this report.)