BART management and union representatives are meeting again behind closed doors today as Bay Area residents continue waiting and wondering whether there will be a strike.
The contract negotiations, which are being assisted by three federal mediators, lasted until about 1 a.m. today and then resumed at about 10 a.m., according to BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost.
Workers represented by Service Employees International Union Local 1021 and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 have threatened to go on strike each day this week if an agreement wasn’t reached, but so far they have agreed to keep working and keep BART trains running while contract talks continue.
Workers previously went on strike for four and a half days at the beginning of July.
Because contract talks have been going late into the night in recent days, many commuters have had to go to bed without knowing if there will be BART service the next morning.
Trost today called on the labor unions to make earlier announcements about whether they will go on strike the following day.
Trost said, “We want the unions to take the public out of the equation” and let riders known by dinnertime whether trains will be running in the morning.
Union leaders couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Jeff Shuttleworth, Bay City News
