BART and City of Oakland Workers STRIKE

July 5, 2013

Strike Shutting San Francisco’s Transit System to End

By GERRY MULLANY

A strike that shut down the commuter train service in the San Francisco Bay Area will end Friday after management and the transit workers’ unions agreed Thursday night to suspend talks for 30 days and resume service in the meantime.

The strike by Bay Area Rapid Transit workers began Monday and snarled commuting in the Bay Area, with the more than 400,000 people who use BART forced to rely on cars, ferries, buses or other forms of transportation.

Some 2,400 employees of the system walked off the job when negotiations broke down late Sunday night. The two unions representing BART workers were demanding a 5 percent raise in each of the next three years, while management offered 2 percent annual raises over four years. Management also wanted workers to start making pension plan contributions and bear more health care costs.

A statement by BART said the trains would begin running at 3 p.m. Friday, with the current contract extended for 30 days. During the strike, BART ran chartered buses out of some stations and ferries between Oakland and San Francisco were packed with passengers.

Train operators and station agents earn an average $60,000 annual salary and more than $11,000 in overtime, according to BART. Transit officials want to upgrade the 40-year-old network, whose ridership is expected to nearly double over the next decade.