San Francisco BART reaches a deal and resumes operation Tuesday

By Park Sae-jin Posted : October 22, 2013, 17:32 Updated : October 22, 2013, 17:32
The second BART strike of 2013 that began on October 18th midnight has caused so much commotion and inconvenience for those who work in San Francisco. The ferry, Amtrak, and bus terminals were overcrowded in the morning and evening with thousands of annoyed commuters and streets were full with vehicles. Fortunately, two workers’ unions and Bay Area Rapid Transit management have reached a deal late Monday and BART will resume operation on Tuesday 6 am.
                                 
After a week of threatening, BART workers went on strike as negotiations between two main BART workers’ unions and the management failed. The unions and the management came close to negotiate a deal on salary, health care, and pension issues, but the management refused to give in. Even a team of federal mediators sent by Gov. Jerry Brown steeped in to ease the tension and reach a deal efficiently. This was the second strike of this year. The first strike was in July and lasted 4 days as well.
 
The BART general manager Grace Crunican said on the new deal, “This offer is more than we wanted to pay but it is also a new path in terms of our partnership with our workers. We compromised to get to this place, as did our union members.”
 
Many believed that 2 deaths contributed to boosting peaceful and quicker negotiations. On Saturday, 2 BART workers, Christopher Sheppard (58) and Laurence Daniels (66), were hit by a BART train and died instantly. The workers were inspecting tracks in East Bay near Walnut Creek. The BART train was operated on purpose of maintenance. A meeting began between unions and the management on Sunday through late Monday. After the deal was reached, one of the unions’ president Antonette Bryant stepped forward and said, “I am here to announce that we have reached a tentative agreement with BART but I don’t want it to be forgotten that two lives have been lost.”
 
BART is a transit system that serves San Francisco Bay Area and is the 5th busiest rapid transit system in United States.  It has approximately over 370,000 passengers during weekdays.
 
 
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