Results tagged “unions”

The possibility of a BART strike has most likely been eliminated, as 80 percent of the members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 have voted in favor of BART's tentative agreement, which the other two unions had already approved two weeks ago. The new contract keeps wages intact and limits layoffs, but it gives management more authority over employee assignments, which will hopefully reduce the need for overtime. The union members will also have to pay more for premium health benefits. In later years, employees might be eligible for raises if there is savings in retirement benefits. ATU Local 1555 President Jesse Hunt said, ""We have accepted the cuts and sacrifices asked of us for the next four years, which were greater than those asked of any other employees, union or nonunion." The tentative agreement must now be ratified by the BART Board of Directors.

After teasing us over and over and over with a strike that promised to cripple public transportation and the lives of many, BART and union leaders came to a contract agreement, tentatively. According to first-on-the-scene SFAppeal, "management and union leaders this morning announced a tentative agreement on a four-year contract. The announcement was made late this morning in Oakland by BART General Manager Dorothy Dugger, Services Employees International Union President Lisa Isler, and Amalgamated Transit Union President Jesse Hunt." After the sort-of agreement was reached, Duggar, according to SF Chron, "said the agreement was the result of 'sacrifice and compromise' and would allow BART to continue operations under 'stable financial footing.'"

Members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 -- BART's second-biggest union, representing around 900 train operators, cranky station agents, and other assorted power workers -- voted 100% against management's proposed contract yesterday. The contract they hated so much? It called "for wage freezes for three years and a 0.75 percent increase in the fourth year." Pretending to care, Gov Arnold growled, "I urge the parties to continue bargaining and to successfully reach an agreement without any strikes, lock-outs or other job actions...The public expects that the parties will remain at the bargaining table until an agreement is reached." Does this mean that BART will finally -- -- go on strike? Who knows. But it sure is an insufferable tease to MSM outlets who could use some sweet traffic gold during these summer months. Anyway, BART spokesperson Linton Johnson said, according to BCN, that he "expects negotiations to continue in a week or sooner."

The looming BART strike was nipped in the bud. For now, at least. According to CBS 5 / BCN, "[a]fter a marathon round of negotiations, Larry Gerber, the chief negotiator of Service Employees International Union Local 1021, and Jesse Hunt, the president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555, said late Thursday night that they will have their members vote on the contract offer sometime next week." So, BART employees will stay on the job until at least next week. When will that vote happen? No one knows yet.

The largest union representing BART workers voted overwhelmingly last night to authorize a strike, which btw people, would take place next Wednesday if a deal isn't reached by then. The unions have called in a mediator who arrives in town today, and it was a mediator who helped hammer out an eleventh-hour deal that averted a strike in 2005. BART workers are asking for a 3% cost of living increase in their new contract, which the agency doesn't want to give them because they're facing a $250 million shortfall over the next four years and they're already going to be hiking fares in July and December. BART, for its part, is already battening down the hatches and preparing commuters for the worst.

Many of BART's 355,000 daily commuters are still unaware that the agency might go on strike next week, which would cause quite a meltdown throughout the Bay Area.