Reuters: U.S.: San Francisco braces for summer rail strike as deadline looms

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San Francisco braces for summer rail strike as deadline looms Aug 4th 2013, 19:31 By Ronnie Cohen SAN FRANCISCO | Sun Aug 4, 2013 3:31pm EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - San Francisco area residents braced on Sunday for a possible rail strike that threatened to cripple the rush-hour commute for the second time this summer, as a midnight deadline to reach a deal on a labor contract for transit workers loomed. Talks on a deal to avert a Monday morning strike were due to continue on Sunday after negotiators for the city's rapid transit system, BART, and the two biggest unions representing its employees emerged from 13 hours of talks late Saturday night saying they were continuing to exchange proposals. The unions gave a 72-hour notice on Thursday night of a possible strike by 2,400 workers on a rail system that carries 400,000 passengers a day and serves as a critical link in the San Francisco area's transportation system. "We're back at the table," BART spokesman Rick Rice told Reuters on Sunday. "We had some good talks yesterday. We're looking forward to more today and keeping the trains running." The unions say they are at loggerheads with management over wages, benefits and safety issues. They contend that despite a proposed 8 percent pay raise over four years, workers would still come home with less money after paying proposed increased contributions to pensions and health-insurance premiums. "Things are moving in the right direction, although too slowly and we don't have any more time to waste," Josie Mooney, a chief negotiator for one of the unions, said at a news conference late on Saturday. "Both parties are going to have to move more quickly tomorrow, and we're going to have to do a lot of work to achieve an agreement," she said. BART workers walked off the job in early July for the first time since 1997, before agreeing to a 30-day cooling-off period and returning to work after four days. They said they would strike again on Monday if a contract is not reached by midnight. TRAFFIC-CHOKED HIGHWAYS A walkout on Monday likely would prove reminiscent of last month's strike, which forced BART passengers to work from home, drive, carpool or crowd onto a limited number of buses and ferries for prolonged, frustrating commutes. Traffic-choked highways, particularly across the Bay Bridge linking San Francisco to East Bay communities, left some in the generally labor friendly area upset with the strikers. A poll by the Bay Area Council, a business-sponsored policy group, found 70 percent of 475 area residents polled opposed a strike, while 41 percent said they wanted the transit agency to use available resources to raise employee compensation. The poll, conducted in early August, had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points. Thomas Wong, 30, who rides BART between his Pleasant Hill home and his job in San Francisco, said he feels little sympathy for the workers. "They're so much better off than a lot of other people in the Bay Area and around the country, and they're asking for more," he said, adding that his one-hour commute turned into a 2 1/2-hour nightmare during last month's strike. Patrick Kallerman, 26, of Oakland depends on BART to get to work as a policy director for a healthcare consulting firm. "I would generally categorize myself as being on labor's side," he said. "I think they're getting a fair deal. They make more than I do." The Bay Area Council Economic Institute estimated that July's strike cost the San Francisco Bay Area $73 million a day in lost worker productivity. Ray Fields, a BART worker who earns $24 an hour cleaning train cars, said he was concerned about safety, particularly poor lighting in tunnels and along tracks. "We really want to address the safety issues," he said. "As far as wages and benefits, we just want something fair. We don't want to inconvenience the Bay Area. We want to work." (Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Bill Trott) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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