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 5th 2013, 03:41 By Ronnie Cohen SAN FRANCISCO | Sun Aug 4, 2013 11:41pm EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Federal and state mediators worked with Bay Area Rapid Transit union and management negotiators late into Sunday night to try to reach a deal to avert a looming strike that threatened to cripple Monday's rush-hour commute. San Francisco area residents were bracing for a second possible strike this summer, sleeping at friends' and relatives' homes to be closer to jobs and making alternative travel arrangements just hours before a midnight deadline to reach a agreement on a labor contract. Talks on a an 11th-hour deal continued into Sunday night, with negotiators for the area's train system, BART, and the two biggest unions representing its employees saying they were continuing to exchange proposals. "We're going to be talking as long as necessary to reach an agreement," BART spokesman Rick Rice told Reuters on Sunday night. 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. The unions say they are at loggerheads with management over wages, benefits and safety issues. They contend that despite a proposed 8 percent pay rise over four years, workers would still come home with less money after paying proposed increased contributions to pensions and health-insurance premiums. 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. (Editing by Dina Kyriakidou and Doina Chiacu) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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