BART unions 'ready to go on strike'

Grace Crunican, BART's general manager, is seen during an interview after testing new seats with the public at the Downtown Berkeley BART station in Berkeley, CA Friday, October 9, 2013. Grace Crunican, BART's general manager, is seen during an interview after testing new seats with the public at the Downtown Berkeley BART station in Berkeley, CA Friday, October 9, 2013. Photo: Michael Short, The Chronicle Photo: Michael Short, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 22 Caption Close BART unions 'ready to go on strike' 1 / 22 Back to Gallery

With the possibility of a second BART strike a day away, talks between the transit agency and its labor unions continued under a media blackout that provides few, if any, hints of progress or gridlock at the bargaining table.

After bargaining past 10 p.m. on Tuesday, negotiators for BART and its two largest unions - Service Employees International Union Local 1021 and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 - returned to negotiations at the Caltrans building in downtown Oakland at 9:30 a.m. Members of bargaining teams emerged for brief breaks but had little to say other than that they were making slow progress. But whether it's enough to keep BART from shutting down, nobody knows.

Deadline nears

The 60-day cooling-off period ordered by Gov. Jerry Brown to forestall a strike in August expires at 11:59 p.m. Thursday. So far, the unions have not issued their customary 72-hour notice of a strike. But since that notice is a courtesy to commuters, there's no guarantee union members couldn't walk off the job Thursday night or Friday morning.

"The fact is our members are ready to go on strike if we don't get the deal that they are deserving," said Antonette Bryant, president of the ATU local.

Tom Hock, BART's chief negotiator, said both sides continue to exchange proposals, usually through a federal mediator, and that they are working to avoid a strike.

"Both sides want to get it resolved," he said. "They don't want to go on strike. But whether there is enough money to get it done is another question. Right now, there's not."

In an interview outside the Downtown Berkeley BART Station, BART General Manager Grace Crunican said that after months of unproductive bargaining in fits and starts, the two sides are finally making progress, thanks in large part to the federal mediator, who is pushing both sides.

"I don't know if there will be a strike," she said. "What I know is that we are negotiating, we are at the table, we have a good flow of information and proposals going back and forth."

While the BART-riding public may see the 60-day cooling-off period as a failure because it hasn't yet produced a deal, Crunican said she thinks it served its purpose by giving each side the chance to better understand the other and, perhaps, to moderate their expectations for the contract.

Recovering economy

"They've seen the economy go down then come back up, and they want a piece of it," she said of BART workers. "I can understand that. But that piece has to fit in with BART's needs to improve the system."

Union negotiators say they want a fair deal that can be ratified by members who are getting increasingly frustrated at the long, unproductive bargaining.

"They want a contract that is equitable, that is fair," Bryant said. "We want our safety provisions taken care of. We want our medical, our retirement and our wages. Those are all part of the package."