Two BART unions to take proposal to members for vote, strike on hold
July 10, 2009
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| Larry Gerber, chief negotiator for the Service Employees International Union, comments on BART contract negotiations Thursday. (Katie Worth/Special to The Examiner) |
OAKLAND — Just before their contract expired at midnight, officials with two of BART's largest unions said they were putting negotiations on hold while they took management's latest contract proposal to their members for a vote that they said would happen sometime next week. The late-night decision also put on hold a threatened strike.
Jean Hamilton, the president of Local 3993, which represents middle managers, says that she needs more information from management before she can take the proposed offer to members.
Larry Gerber, the chief negotiator for SEIU, which represents BART's mechanics and custodians said the latest proposal is "not very good," and would be for four-years instead of the two the unions had wanted. He declined to give other details of the proposal, saying they wanted to talk first with union members.
The Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1555 , which represents approximately 900 front-line workers, was also bringing the offer to members. Union officials said there was no guarantee members would agree to the proposal. If the members reject it, union officials said they'll go to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and ask for a cooling off period before they have to go back to the bargaining table.
BART is seeking $100 million in concessions from its 3,200 employees - some 2,800 of which are unionized - to deal with a multi-year, multi-million dollar budget deficit. Contract discussions began in April and have been contentious ever since.
BART spokesman Linton Johnson told reporters just before midnight that he hoped that the union leaders, " recommend it to their members and that their members ratify it," adding, ""I can tell you it's not going to get any better than this proposal. The next one is not going to be any better than this one."
According to Johnson, the deal would preserve the employees salaries, but ask them to contribute more to their health care and retirement benefits, and will eliminate some work rules they say are costly and inefficient.
Earlier in the day, union leaders for BART workers said it was unlikely that they would strike on Friday, and promised to give "reasonable notice" before walking off the job.
Since their contract expired at midnight Thursday, however, the union does not have to give 72 hours notice before striking.
Union officials indicated that the threat of the strike would be on hold while they went to their membership, and if they had to ask the governor for a cooling off period.
A failure to get membership approval or a cooling off period could lead to a strike by workers or a decision by BART to lock out workers, which would indefinitely shut down service and strand some 350,000 riders who rely on the trains daily.
Thursday night, Linton noted that the unions could keep the trains running without a contract, as was done during negotiations four years ago. He said BART has no plans to lock out the workers.
"Clearly we can't afford to have employees walking off the job," said Linton. "This is not the economy for that."
BART management rejected the latest round of proposals by its five unions, saying workers haven't made enough concessions in such matters as health and retirement benefits.
They have said in the past they need to reduce labor costs due to a projected $250 million budget deficit over the next four years - although on Thursday, BART officials said that new estimates could put the financial shortfall at $310 million.
- Bay City News contributed to this report
maldax@sfexaminer.com, kworth@sfexaminer.com
