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The BART strike continues for a second day, after a Monday that commuters described as a traffic nightmare.

No further bargaining sessions have occurred since representatives from Service Employees International Union Local 1221 and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 left the table on Sunday, and none are currently scheduled.

BART spokesman Rick Rice said Monday that management has conveyed to mediators the hope that talks can be scheduled “very soon” and that BART is “prepared to negotiate the significantly improved proposal we delivered on Saturday.”

Employees announced their intention to strike midnight Sunday, just after their contract expired.

The key issues in the talks, which began on April 1 but broke off Sunday night, are pensions, health benefits, salaries and safety.

A Bay Area economic institute estimates that the BART strike is

costing the region $73 million a day in lost labor productivity.

The figure is a conservative estimate, according to the business advocacy group the Bay Area Council, mostly based on estimates of lost hours and productivity from longer commute times due to traffic delays or taking alternate public transit.

“The Bay Area Council and our 250 members companies implore the BART unions to end this damaging strike and return to the bargaining table, and we urge both sides to reach a fair and reasonable agreement,” Bay Area Council president and CEO Jim Wunderman said in a statement Monday.

According to the council, the economic impact of the strike could in fact be much larger if considering the costs of workers not spending money by staying home or otherwise altering their routine, increased fuel prices because of clogged freeways, and that workers telecommuting may not maintain the same level of productivity.

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4 Comments

  1. Typical bureaucracy, huge salaries and pensions, paid health care and they complain over the $100-$200 a month they are asked to pay per family. Obscene overtime pay, the list goes on. the majority of the patrons they carry do not have a salary package they do, yet they strike to show their power to control all of us and if we don’t give them what they want they inflict pain on others. See
    http://www.mercurynews.com/salaries/bay-area?Entity=Bay%20Area%20Rapid%20Transit

  2. Question: Since the unions have so much power in all public services and they choose to walk out over pay, can we fire them and privatize it?

    The job market is so tough right now, I think there are a lot of people willing to perform the BART workers job responsibilities even at present pay and benefits without union involvement. Since the taxpayers are footing the bill on this, as we do for everything, then when do we (consumers) get to take control back? This is absolutely ridiculous!

    I think we could find better workers, harder workers, pride-filled and appreciative workers by kicking out the unions. Can’t we say, if you want to do this job, then the salary is this. Fill in your applications.

    BART workers do not provide a value-added service. They are unskilled, government workers. I think $15/hour is a good wage. If you want more, then go find another job, but stop raping the taxpayers. The BART strike doesn’t hurt the government – only the people who use BART to get to WORK. That’s right, WORK. The very place necessary to pay the fees/taxes of the government and union workers.

    At this point, it’s just costing us more to get to work… There will come a point (if we’re not there already) when people say, “Eh, I don’t need to work anymore. The government will take care of me…” OR “I pay so much to the government that I’m not going to work anymore…”

    So, how do we fix this?

  3. Bill,

    Thanks for posting the link to BART pay and compensation. BART management needs to hold the line. I understand the fact that BART employees have been feeding at the taxpayer trough for so long that they’ve lost all sense of how much better they already have it, compared to the reality of applying their skills to working at a private company. So unfortunately it may take a fairly long strike to convince them. It would be good if BART started hiring and training replacement workers, but I doubt this will happen.

    Part of the underlying problem is that BART management has it even cushier than the union folks, and they realize that perks, benefits, etc. that are granted to the union are also granted to management, in one form or another. Things like excessive vacation, the ability to bank vacation and sick days for your future pension, and the “pick-up” of the supposed employee portion of pension and health care costs. So in this incestuous arrangement, the taxpayer loses.

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