With less than five hours before a strike deadline set for 12:01 a.m. on August 5,, Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown ordered a seven-day inquiry into the contract dispute that had Bay Area Rapid Transit labor unions poised to walk off the job. Five BART unions represent 2,600 workers. BART serves 400,000 riders, most of them commuters, every day.
If no contract agreement is reached after seven days, Brown can petition a court to call for a 60-day “cooling off” period.
Brown’s action came after a powerful union solidarity effort had woven together agreements with other Bay Area transit workers to respect the strike and had gained the support of more than 20 other unions, including the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.
On Aug. 1, more than 1,000 workers and community supporters marched to the BART headquarters in Oakland, CA, demanding a contract. The march and rally was organized by the Amalgamated Transit Union, Lo. 1555 and SEIU 1021, the two largest BART unions. Well-known actor and social activist Danny Glover headlined a speakers’ list that also included local activists, such as Jerilyn Blueford, mother of Alan Blueford, a 17-year-old murdered by Oakland police in 2012. Jerilyn Blueford spoke out for growing the alliance between labor and movement groups advocating against austerity, police violence, and environmental injustice.
Efforts to obtain a living wage agreement with BART management has been blocked through more than three months without meaningful progress, in large part because BART management had hired as a consultant a notorious anti-union negotiator, Thomas Hawk, from Veolia Transportation. Hawk’s negotiating stance has led to transit strikes in a number of U.S. cities, sometimes leading to the privatization of those transit systems.
Also frustrating the negotiations has been management’s refusal to provide a full accounting for BART income which has soared over the past five years as BART unions have given back more than $100 million in wage and benefit concessions. Wages have remained frozen since the 2009 contract went into effect
Coupled with the lack of transparency has been a well-orchestrated and well-funded media campaign attacking the BART workers as “overpaid,” advocating among other things for legislation outlawing public sector strikes.
The Aug. 1 demonstration reflected the growing network between union and community groups in San Francisco and the East Bay that has been forming around a growing recognition that the fight for a fair contract for BART workers is part of a larger fight back against attacks on working women and men and their families around the country and around the world.
At this time, it is uncertain whether BART management will negotiate in good faith or continue its efforts to break the BART unions and further drive working class families toward poverty. What is clear is that workers are becoming increasingly united and informed about how “an attack against one is an attack against all,” and will continue to push back against anti-union attacks against both organized and unorganized workers.
