The 4 1/2-day BART strike in July gave the Bay Area a taste of the torture that may await Monday if the transit agency fails to reach agreement with its two largest unions. It backed up traffic for miles, created long lines for buses and ferries, and prompted many commuters to take days off or work from home.

It also generated a lot of anger and frustration and caused many commuters to question why public transportation workers are permitted to strike in the Bay Area when transit strikes are illegal in major cities. including New York, Washington and, yes, San Francisco, where Muni employees are not permitted to strike.

Courts in California have upheld the right of public employees to strike with two major exceptions - when a strike "would create a substantial and imminent threat to public safety" or when a law specifically prohibits certain workers from striking. In California, the only state law banning public employees from walking off the job in a labor dispute applies to firefighters. San Francisco city employees, including Muni workers, are prohibited from striking by City Charter.

Hard to find backer

But banning public transportation strikes or, specifically, a BART strike, would require state legislation that would certainly be opposed by labor unions and would probably not find a backer among the Bay Area delegation.

Despite earlier BART strikes - the most recent before the July walkout was in 1997 and lasted six days - and the every-four-year threat of a strike, the idea of banning BART strikes has apparently never been broached at the transit agency or in the Legislature.

Alicia Trost, a BART spokeswoman, had a one-word answer when asked if the transit agency had ever contemplated prohibiting its workers from striking: "No," she said emphatically. She gave the same answer when asked if BART would ask for legislation to prohibit future strikes.

Randy Rentschler, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the region's planning and financing agency, said that he's never heard any talk of legislation to ban a BART strike.

"I've been here a long time and cannot recall when a potential BART strike led anyone to even get into that subject," he said.

During last week's commission meeting, San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener mentioned the topic but didn't take a position for or against prohibiting BART strikes.

"BART is one of the few transit agencies, I think, that is allowed to strike," he said. "Muni is not, and every four years they go to the brink."

Wiener declined to elaborate on that comment this week.

San Francisco's City Charter has two sections banning strikes by public employees - one regarding police officers and firefighters, and another governing other workers.

72 hours notice

It remains unclear whether BART workers will stage a second strike Monday or will be able to reach an agreement with the transit agency.

The unions and BART management met Wednesday in Oakland, and offered few details, but said an agreement did not seem to be close. The unions have promised to give 72 hours notice of a strike, meaning that they would need to issue that notice late Thursday night if they intend to walk off the job at 12:01 a.m. Monday.

The key issues continue to be wages, contributions to pensions and health insurance, overtime and safety.