BART Strike Enters 2nd Day, Management Rejects Unions' Offer
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- The BART strike likely will extend another day, according to officials.
In a statement released Friday night, BART officials said it "has received no indication that (workers at Service Employees International Union Local 1021 and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555) will return to work" on Saturday.
BART contends it "wants to negotiate an end to this strike in a fair and financially responsible way."
Management is not budging after union leaders said Friday that striking employees would return to work and get the transit system's trains running by 10 p.m. if management met a series of conditions.
One of the key proposals by leaders of SEIU Local 1021 and ATU Local 1555 is that outstanding work rule issues be submitted to arbitration.
However, BART General Manager Grace Crunican said in a statement earlier on Friday that management would only consider arbitration if it involved all issues with its unions, including wages and employees' contributions for their health care and retirement benefits.
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BART spokesman Jim Allison, at a news conference Friday evening, reiterated Crunican, saying union officials are "cherry picking" to get a deal to their benefit.
The union officials said they would recommit to all of the tentative agreements they have already reached on a variety of work rules and are asking management to accept the unions' compromise language on past workplace practices.
They said their so-called "Riders First Plan" would also return to existing language on all outstanding general proposals.
In a statement, union leaders told management, "We urge you to sign this Riders First Plan so trains can be running by 10 p.m. today."
The proposal, Allison said, "is essentially a repeat of what was given at the bargaining table."
BART officials said talks involved "an all-or-nothing deal" that called for an agreement on all issues, including management's proposed work rule changes.
A management official said, "There's no such thing as an agreement unless everything is agreed to."
Veteran train operator Chris Finn, who is one of the chief negotiators for ATU Local 1555, said the unions and management were "within inches of the deal" before talks broke down on Thursday.
Finn asked BART management to agree to the proposal so "we can fairly get those trains running again."
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