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8/12/13 BART strikes blocked for now; no progress on talks - SFGate
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BART strikes blocked for now; no progress on talksJohn Wildermuth and John Coté
Updated 10:42 pm, Sunday, August 11, 2013
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Superior Court Judge Curtis Karnow questions the attorneys at the session where he ordered the
60-day cooling-off period. Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle
BART riders got a two-month strike reprieve
Sunday when a San Francisco Superior Court
judge ordered the 60-day cooling-off period
requested by Gov. Jerry Brown.
The injunction, which will stay in effect until
midnight Oct. 10, blocks a repeat of the 4 1/2-
day walkout in early July that snarled traffic
and disrupted the commute of hundreds of
thousands of workers across the Bay Area.
"Another strike would have had grave impacts
on the riding and driving public," said Zakhary
Mallett, a BART director who was in the
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8 110 2 audience for the rare weekend hearing.
The judge's order seemingly stripped the
urgency from the long-promised effort by
BART and its unions to reach a contract
agreement by Sunday. Instead of lasting late
into the night, the talks were completed by 7
p.m., with no one sure when they
would resume.
"We are done for the day," said Chris Finn, a
member of the bargaining team for Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555. "We don't
have any negotiation dates scheduled."
Finn blamed the stalemate on the transit district, calling its latest contract offer
"regressive" and saying it would have led to a pay cut for hundreds of workers.
BART blames unions
BART officials accused the unions of walking out of negotiations and rejecting the new
contract offer, which they said boosted a proposed pay increase to 10 percent over
four years.
"In the end, we were very far apart," said Grace Crunican, BART's general manager,
describing the offer as fair for riders, unions and the long-term future of BART.
"Our offer was a 10 percent offer, and the unions' offer was about a 25 percent offer
roughly for the same period of time, so we were too far apart to reach a deal tonight,"
Crunican said. "I think you should let us have a couple of days to reassess where we are
before it would be smart for us to pick it up. ... The cooling-off is called a cooling-off for
a reason."
Josie Mooney, chief negotiator for Service Employees International Union Local 1021, said
there could be no deal until BART addressed worker safety concerns.
"We are stunned that after all of this time the district has not exercised its moral
obligation, let alone its legal obligation, to make good on our safety proposals,"
Mooney said.
'Not much closer'
Although both BART and the unions had said they didn't want the cooling-off period to stall
any momentum being made in the contract talks, it's clear that little progress was
being made.
"We're not much closer than ... earlier in the week," Mallett said.
Even if there had been dramatic progress in Sunday's talks, which resumed at 1 p.m. in
Oakland, negotiations with at least one union will extend later into the week. Bargainers for
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3993 broke off talks
with BART early Saturday evening, unable to reach an agreement on proposed
classification and wage adjustments for the 210 professional workers it represents.
"There's just not enough money on the table," said Patricia Schuchardt, the local's
president. "We agreed to meet again with BART on Tuesday to decide what we'll do next."
BART requested the cooling-off period a week ago, just hours before its three major unions
were set to walk out for the second time in a month. Despite objections from the unions,
transit district officials convinced the governor that a temporary ban on both strikes and
lockouts was the only way to ensure that the trains would keep running to serve the
system's 400,000 weekday riders.
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cooling-off period Sunday, apparently resigned to the inevitable.
Judge's interpretation
In the brief 9 a.m. hearing, Judge Curtis Karnow stated that the law said that he "shall"
issue the order if it's determined that a strike would "significantly disrupt public
transportation services and endanger the public's health, safety or welfare."
"I read the word 'shall' as direction from the Legislature that I have to issue the order if
the conditions are true," Karnow said. "And I understand the parties all agree that those
conditions are true."
When he heard no objections, the judge agreed to issue the requested injunction.
The governor can call for a cooling-off period only once. If a contract deal hasn't been
reached by midnight on Oct. 10, the unions will be free to strike.
Tom Hock, BART's chief negotiator, said that without an agreement Sunday, his team
would take a hiatus from bargaining to reassess its position.
"I would assume that all three sides (BART and the two larger unions) would want to take
time to reflect on what's gone on and what their positions are," Hock said. "I couldn't give
you a number of days. I have no idea."
John Wildermuth and John Coté are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. E-mail:
[email protected] , [email protected]
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