BART sets strike for midnight Sunday BART

A BART turnstiles awaits the next wave of commuters at Embarcadero station during early morning rush hours in San Francisco Monday morning, June 29, 2009. BART and its two largest unions have agreed to extend labor contract through July 9 to continue ongoing new contract negotiations and forestall possible strike which would cripple the regions traffic and public transportation system. BART currently carries approximately 355,000 riders on a daily basis. less A BART turnstiles awaits the next wave of commuters at Embarcadero station during early morning rush hours in San Francisco Monday morning, June 29, 2009. BART and its two largest unions have agreed to extend ... more Photo: Stephen Lam, The Chronicle Photo: Stephen Lam, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close BART sets strike for midnight Sunday 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

BART workers will strike beginning at midnight Sunday, the union that represents train operators and station agents announced this afternoon.

The union made the announcement after the BART board of directors voted unanimously today to immediately impose work rules on the 900-member Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555.

BART's daily ridership averages about 340,000 and those passengers will need to find a new mode of transportation come Monday morning.

BART's board of directors expressed remorse that they had to unilaterally impose a new contract, which would give management the ability to impose new work rules and would require members of the ATU to pay into their own retirement system, which would equate to about 7 percent of their salary.

"We can't keep going through deadline after deadline after deadline...Something has to give. We can't continue the bleeding at this agency," said director Lynette Sweet.

She and other directors encouraged the union to come back to the negotiating table.

Contract talks between BART management and ATU broke down Wednesday night with management declaring an impasse when the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 rejected management's "last, best and final offer," said BART spokesman Linton Johnson.

Hunt disputes that the two sides are at impasse and said his union may go to court to fight whether they are legally at impasse and are considering asking the governor to intervene.

"We believe the gap between the parties is not unbridgeable," Hunt said. "We believe there are still negotiations to be done."

Johnson, however, stood firm in his stance that the negotiations are at an impasse and expressed confidence that a court would agree with BART management.

Two other BART unions, Service Employees International 1021 and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3993 ratified their contracts this week. Combined, their memberships account for nearly double the number of workers represented by the Amalgamated Transit Union.

The leaders of those two unions said they would honor the picket line.

BART faces a projected $310 million deficit over the next four years, and management wanted to cut labor costs by $100 million over that period to help balance the budget. The agency raised fares and cut service starting July 1.