Are BART's Contract Negotiations PR working?
Previously, BART had threatened the Unions with layoffs and an imposed contract if an agreement was not reached by the end of July, 2009. Now BART wants to blame the Unions for a possible strike by the end of month, which will begin on 08/03/09 after the Unions give a 72 hour notice to the public. BART claims the Unions are manipulating the timing to get health benefits.?
http://www.kron.com/News/ArticleView/tabid/298/smid/1126/ArticleID/2400/reftab/36/t/BART-Union-Members-Could-Postpone-Strike-to-Maintain-Job-Benefits/Default.aspx??
The Unions have been negotiating in good faith. Proof of that was the kron 4 news segment aired on 07/27/2009 at 10:30 p.m. Look for "BART Talks Continue with Only 3 Days Left Before Possible Strike" on the link that follows: http://www.kron.com/
Incidentally, this segment was the first you would come across if you had visited www.bart.gov, but now, it is not there or at least I could not find it. It was an attack on the Unions that made BART look bad. There, the public can see that BART stalled a grievance for 20 years. The Union won a 36 million award but after sitting with BART the Union agreed to take only 6 million, giving up 30 million they had already won. Hardly sounds like the greedy group BART portrays them to be. How can BART expect the public to believe that Unions are so stubborn they would quibble over six parking spaces or a few employees working on a holiday. Those are work rules that can be changed.
The parking issue discussed has actually more to do with BART's poor management. They could a) rent six spaces, b) shop somewhere else, c) use one of the spare managers to drive the employees to work (the ones that are supposed to close the stations when staffing is overhauled) or d) work it out with the Union.
To amuse myself I stopped the footage—a narrow shot of the parking lot—at 00:01:19 and enlarged it. Clearly, there are more than six cars in the parking lot.
To wrap it up the reporter and Linton discuss the sunset clause BART wants in the contract:
Reporter: "From an outsider's standpoint, Did it take two decades to resolve because of the Unions or because of BART?"
Linton: "Well, either way it will force both of u—stutter—both sides to have a conclusion."
BART wants to limit grievances to a year—ignore the grievance for a year and it will go away. This contract is not about money for the Unions.
BART Talks Continue with Only
BART Talks Continue with Only 3 Days Left Before Possible Strike, is still there at the Kron4 site. This was an independent report by a news agency and not a BART Management PR effort.
1) About the parking, i had the same view. Why did the BART management not rent parking spot near the old HQ for the employees. Maybe the Unions fought against it, who knows? Hiding behind Beneficial practices, there has been a lot going on.
2) 20 years to resolve a grievance, its crazy. No matter who was at fault for this long long delay, there should be a time limit, whether its 1 yr, 2, 3 doesn't matter.
If even half of what Linton says is true, I think the Union workers are getting away with a lot of easy money.
Changes to Work Rules and
Changes to Work Rules and Beneficial Past practices does not equal setting a deadline that allows BART to violate its contract obligations. As I stated before, is not about the money.
Even after winning a 36 million award, BART sat with the affected employees and they gave up 30 million. The Unions are willing to make concessions and have a counteroffer.
Many posters disregarded channel 2s coverage regarding Travel and Food expenses. The problem is that eveytime an unauthorized expense is made at BART, insignificant as it seems, it's misappropiation of public funds or breaking the law. Inevitably, it leads the public to wonder: How can BART management be trusted with the millions of dollars that BART generates when BART, apparently, cannot handle basic accounting tasks?
Regarding the $760 million counteroffer which BART originally labeled as illegal and I was called foolish for bringing it up without having seen it. Channel 2 had Jessie Hunt and Linton Johnson discuss it: in front of the cameras Linton said it was not workable, the Unions math is off he said, stuttering badly. The news revealed that actuaries have looked into the Unions' figures; the negotiating teams didn't just pull figures out of their proverbial *arses* as Linton wants the public to believe. And even if the Unions' math is a bit off, I am confident is a lot better than BART's math based on the expose. All this just by looking at the news.
Linton sucks. BART managers
Linton sucks.
BART managers are overpaid.
Many BART employees are overpaid.
There are lots of stupid work rules at BART.
Everybody is at fault, but nobody is willing to accept any blame.
The New York Times reports
The New York Times reports that public transit systems used the federal stimulus money to avert raising fares, meanwhile BART plans to use it on the doomed OAK airport extension.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/us/17transit.html?_r=4&scp=2&sq=Bay%20Area%20Rapid%20Transit
The New York Times reports
The New York Times reports that public transit systems used the federal stimulus money to avert raising fares, meanwhile BART plans to use it on the doomed OAK airport extension.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/us/17transit.html?_r=4&scp=2&sq=Bay%20Area%20Rapid%20Transit