4:58 PM: Less than a day after BART union leaders announced a strike, more than 100 workers and supporters gathered today at a noontime rally at the Lake Merritt BART station in Oakland to protest what they say are unfair labor practices by the agency’s management.
Dozens of BART workers wore purple Service Employees International Union Local 1021 T-shirts or shirts representing Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 and toted signs with messages such as “On Strike” and “Replace the BART Board.”
See all Appeal coverage Of BART’s second strike of 2013 here
Attendees heard from about a dozen union representatives and leaders of local organizations standing in support with the unions during the strike, which began this morning.
One ATU Local 1555 representative, veteran train operator Chris Finn, told the crowd that the BART unions did all they could to avoid a strike.
Finn, who has been part of the union’s bargaining team during the lengthy negotiations with management, said this afternoon that ATU officials had not received any offers from BART to return to the bargaining table.
“They are intent on causing a strike,” he said. “They are hoping the public will not support it.”
Union leaders today said that the union representatives and transit agency management were nearing an agreement over the financial terms of the contract.
But as talks drew to a close, Finn said, BART management “brought up a proposal … to effectively kill unions’ rights to bargain.”
The proposed changes could allow management to make decisions about major workplace procedures, such as scheduling, without first consulting the unions, per the current practice, said Gary Jimenez, SEIU Local 1021’s East Bay regional vice president.
“Obviously, workers are fighting that, because everyone wants to have a say in how their workplace is run,” Jimenez said.
“They want to impose changes in the workplace without mutual agreement,” he said.
Union officials say talks also broke down over BART management’s proposal to do away with a contract clause known as “beneficial past practices,” including doing away with paper paychecks and converting to an all-electronic payment system.
“Not everyone has access to a computer,” Jimenez said.
He disputed BART management’s arguments that eliminating beneficial past practices would make the transit system more efficient, citing BART’s on-time record of more than 95 percent.
“We are sorry that it’s come to this, we absolutely did not want it to come to this,” Jimenez said. “But when management comes back with ‘take it or leave it,’ it left us no choice.”
He said union members plan to man picket lines at the Lake Merritt station until the strike ends, as well as at SEIU offices throughout the Bay Area.
3:26 PM: Less than a day after BART union leaders announced a strike, more than 100 workers and supporters gathered today at a noontime rally at the Lake Merritt BART station in Oakland to protest what they say are unfair labor practices by the agency’s management.
Dozens of BART workers wore purple Service Employees International Union Local 1021 T-shirts or shirts representing Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 and toted signs with messages such as “On Strike” and “Replace the BART Board.”
See all Appeal coverage Of BART’s second strike of 2013 here
Attendees heard from about a dozen union representatives and leaders of local organizations standing in support with the unions during the strike, which began this morning.
One ATU Local 1555 representative, veteran train operator Chris Finn, told the crowd that the BART unions did all they could to avoid a strike.
But at the end of negotiations, he said, BART management “brought up a proposal … to effectively kill unions’ rights to bargain.”
Finn, who has been part of the union’s bargaining team during the lengthy negotiations with management, said as of this afternoon, ATU officials had not received any offers from BART to return to the bargaining table.
“They are intent on causing a strike,” he said. “They are hoping the public will not support it.”
Laura Dixon, Bay City News
