State Sen. Steve Glazer ties BART bond support to labor issues

State Sen. Steve Glazer, elected on a relentless campaign to prevent strikes by BART workers, threatened Wednesday to oppose an expected November bond measure to fund improvements to the transit system.

At a news conference at the Walnut Creek BART Station, Glazer, D-Orinda, surrounded by a handful of council members from cities east of the East Bay hills, accused BART of financial mismanagement and said voters should not approve a bond measure — expected to be at least $2 billion — if it’s placed on the fall ballot.

Glazer was particularly critical during the media event of the two four-day strikes by BART workers in 2013 — and the resulting contract, which included a 15 percent raise over four years. He also objected to a BART “me too” policy that gives managers raises that match what the unions negotiate, as well as a provision that prohibits the transit agency from training replacement workers until the union contract expires.

BART’s contracts with its workers will expire at the end of June 2017.

Unless BART and its unions negotiate new, “financially responsible” labor agreements before November, Glazer said, he will oppose the bond measure. Glazer said 31 elected officials, including Assemblywoman Catharine Baker, R-San Ramon, Contra Costa County Supervisor Mary Piepho and city council members agree with him.

“Why should we reward bad behavior with billions of dollars in new taxes?” he said.

Glazer said the workers would not necessarily have to “revisit their salary choices,” but would need to bargain a new package for themselves and eliminate the replacement training restrictions. Managers, he said, would need to end the “me too” raises.

BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost did not say whether the transit agency would attempt to bargain a new contract now, but pointed toward the importance of the bond measure.

“We ought to be working together with local officials to solve the Bay Area's transportation crisis,” she said. “The state has already slashed transit funding by double digits and it will only get worse. BART has record ridership and the freeways are jam packed. The Bay Area needs BART to be a viable option to help minimize traffic for everyone, and the only way to ensure that is to rebuild the aging infrastructure that is causing delays and service disruptions.”

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com