New BART proposal shows significant movement, union walks out, calls strike

BART Spokesperson Rick Rice issued the following statement on where things stand with labor negotiations:

“Today BART staff presented a new proposal which moves the District's salary offer from 4% to 8% over four years and reduces the amount of employee contributions we originally requested for pension and medical benefits.  The 8% raise is on top of the 1% raise all BART employees are scheduled to receive on Monday.  The new offer will ensure that - even with new contributions to health care and pension programs - all BART employees will see a net increase in total compensation.

Unfortunately, BART's labor partners left the bargaining table at 4 pm Saturday, announced a Monday strike, and never returned.

BART staff presented the new proposal to the state mediators, and emailed it to union leaders.  Two state mediators have been facilitating the negotiations.  This means each team is in separate rooms and proposals are presented through the mediators.

BART staff had planned to bargain this evening and tomorrow until midnight or beyond in an attempt to reach an agreement with our unions and keep the trains running on Monday. The BART bargaining team will be at the table Sunday at the 11 am scheduled time and we hope our unions join us.

The Bay Area is counting on us to come together and meet reasonably in the middle.  There is still time. Let’s get it done."