BART transit workers unions plan to give 72 hours’ notice Thursday night that they will walk off their jobs at midnight Sunday if no progress toward a new contract is reached by then, union sources tell us.
If a walkout happens, it would be the second strike in a little more than a month by BART’s major unions, which represent 2,300 train operators, station agents, maintenance workers and other employees.
Workers walked off their jobs for 4½ days in July before agreeing to go back to their jobs through Aug. 4 while the two sides tried to get negotiations back on track.
The talks have bogged down over both salaries and benefits.
The unions have argued that they haven’t had a real raise in four years, and are particularly unhappy over management’s proposals that they contribute for the first time to their pensions and pay more toward their health benefits.
Management’s latest offer would give workers a 2 percent pay hike over each of the next four years, though the unions counter that the increase wouldn’t make up for the extra costs that workers will be forced to pay for their benefits.
However, we’re told, management is promising that every worker will come out ahead financially by at least 1 percent a year, even if BART has to hand out bonuses to make up the difference.
Union officials insist that they’ve received no formal contract offer since July 2. They also say that under that four-year proposal, a $52,000-a-year janitor would take home $2,000 less annually than now.
Representatives of one of the two BART unions, the Amalgamated Transit Union, came in from around the country Thursday to rally with local train operators and station agents in Oakland. Once again, the union took aim at BART’s $399,000 lead negotiator, Thomas Hock, whom they say has a history of union busting.
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