SEIU 1021 Issues Statements on End of BART Strike

[Teamster Jeff]

>>>
Oakland, CA – Late last night, SEIU 1021, ATU, and the BART District agreed to accept the state mediators’ proposal to extend the current contract through August 4, 2013. The agreement, designed to encourage good faith bargaining, bars lockouts, strikes, and includes measures that would prevent unilateral implementation of a contract.

Statement from Roxanne Sanchez, SEIU 1021 President:

"Today BART workers can return to working on a system that they’ve helped make one of the country’s best and get back to keeping the Bay Area moving.

We regret that BART’s high-paid, out-of-state negotiators did not share this same commitment to our communities, that they chose to stall and bargain through the media, consequently leaving hundreds of thousands of Bay Area residents stranded and costing our local economy hundreds of millions of dollars. BART workers would like to assure the public that we are working diligently to quickly reach a resolution that is fair and improves safety for both riders and workers.

We thank the leadership of Labor Secretary Marty Morgenstern and the work of the mediators to bring about an agreement that gives BART management the chance to reverse direction and do the right thing."
>

Statement from Pete Castelli, SEIU 1021 Executive Director, on BART negotiations:

"We are happy to be back to work moving the Bay Area, but we do so knowing that BART management has raised hypocrisy to a whole new level. Management has spent taxpayer money on themselves like they were Wall Street bankers! While BART General Manager Grace Crunican pays herself $320,000/year, she refuses to adjust employee compensation to simply keep up with the cost of living here in the Bay Area.

BART management has spent a million dollars of taxpayer money paying consultants to pursue a union busting strategy based on the tactics of what anti-labor forces have done in the Midwest over the last several years. But we have news for them: the Bay Area will stand up for working people.”
>>>

http://www.keepbartrunning.com/_seiu_1021_issues_statements_on_end_of_bart_strike

[railsback]

1. LoL. Really no point of temporarily ending the strike IF the Bay Area was really behind the Unions.

They're NOT behind the Unions, the Unions know this, yet still keep up the rhetoric. The 2009 strikes were averted because, again, the Bay Area wasn't behind the Unions. The 4% over 4 years was a good place to start, yet the Unions just left the talks because they wanted 5% over 3 years. Now, most likely, they're going to end up with much less than what they wanted after overplaying their hand. Sounds like the BART unions need new leadership.

[Teamster Jeff]

2. Sounds to me like BART wasn't serious about negotiating

They seem close enough to get a deal if BART was negotiating in good faith instead of paying big bucks for outside union busting political operatives to run smear campaigns against their own workers.

Bart is proposed a 2% raise with pension contributions which amounts to a pay cut for the workers. Is that overplaying their hand?

[railsback]

3. Not the initial offers from BART

First, 8% over 5 years, then 4% over 4. Unions wanted 5% with no contributions over 3 years, and walked out. Now, BART sat back and observed the public reaction, which was clearly in favor of BART, and now are using that information against the unions. They'll be lucky to get a 1% raise now. The BART unions are in some serious need of new leadership. These are different times, and they can't storm in like its 30 years earlier.

[Teamster Jeff]

4. I guess we will see what they end up with

Thanks for the replies.