San Francisco transit talks continue ahead of planned strikes

Bay Area Rapid Transit managers and union leaders are returning to the bargaining table Sunday in hopes of heading off a strike that would create traffic nightmares for San Francisco area commuters for the second time in a month.

The two sides negotiated for about 14 hours until late Saturday night and are set to resume bargaining Sunday morning.

Big differences remain on key issues such as wages, pensions, worker safety and health care costs, but the parties expressed some optimism that an agreement could be reached to avert a strike planned for Monday.

"The parties made some important but incremental moves yesterday, and I hope to get to a deal," Josie Mooney, chief negotiator for the Service Employees International Union 1021, said Sunday before heading into negotiations. "If the parties work very hard, then it's certainly possible in the amount of time we have left."

"There was definitely movement from both sides," BART chief negotiator Thomas Hock said as he left negotiations late Saturday, according to KTVU-TV. "Hopefully, if we keep moving, we will get to a proposal that both sides can agree to."

BART's two largest unions issued a 72-hour notice Thursday that employees would walk off the job if they didn't reach agreement on a new contract by midnight Sunday.

The Service Employees International Union and the Amalgamated Transit Union--the groups representing the workers in the negotiations--are pushing for 20 percent raises over three years for their members while BART management has countered with 8 percent over four years. The median salary of BART transit workers is $80,000, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Unions and the transit agency are also at odds over healthcare and pension contributions. BART is asking workers to increase their contributions to health insurance premiums--employees currently pay $92 per month--and to begin contributing to their pensions, which is not currently required.

Bay Area agencies are preparing ways to get commuters to work if there's a strike, but officials say there's no way to make up for the BART system, which carries about 400,000 riders a day.

"BART really is the backbone of the transit network. No other transit agency has the ability to absorb BART's capacity if there's a disruption," said John Goodwin, spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

If there's a BART strike, transit agencies are planning to add bus and ferry service, keep carpool lanes open all day and even give away coffee gift cards to encourage drivers to pick up riders. They're also encouraging workers to avoid peak traffic hours or telecommute if possible.

When BART workers shut down train service for four days in early July, roadways were packed and commuters waited in long lines for buses and ferries. The unions agreed to call off that strike and extend their contracts until Sunday while negotiations continued.

A strike could lead to more gridlock than last month's strike, which came around the Fourth of July holiday when many workers were on vacation.

Bay Area and state officials have been pressuring BART managers and union leaders to reach an agreement this weekend, saying a strike would create financial hardship for working families and hurt the region's economy.

Source: AP