Homeless in Arizona

With that in mind I find it outrageous that BART employees can go on strike when they work for a business that loses tons of money.

If anything these guys should be accepting pay cuts, not demanding pay raises.

This articles says BART employees earn an average of about $83,000 annually in gross pay.

Source

BART strike moves into second day

By Mike Rosenberg

mrosenberg@mercurynews.com

Posted: 06/30/2013 11:00:00 PM PDT

OAKLAND -- As expected, the Bay Area woke up Tuesday morning to a second day of the BART strike, meaning another round of gridlock, congestion and extended commute times.

BART and its unions have no immediate plans to return to the bargaining table and appeared to be far apart on several key compensation issues. Neither side budged Monday, a day after BART's labor deal expired, resulting in the transit agency's first strike in 16 years.

The agency even seemed to be preparing for a longer struggle Monday evening, doubling the number of chartered buses that would pick up commuters at the West Oakland station and take them to San Francisco on Tuesday morning.

Commuters forced to find alternate ways to move around the Bay Area wondered if today's commute would be worse than Monday.

Anne Coogan-Gehr, who for a second day woke up early to catch an AC transit bus from Oakland to San Francisco, said Monday's commute was "tolerable" but worried today would bring greater headaches.

"I think it's going to be worse," Coogan-Gehr said. "People had one day to figure if out. I think more people will just be getting their game on."

Commuters who struggled to find a way to work Monday were frustrated at the lack of progress.

"I really wish negotiations were going on now," said Elizabeth Gross, 35, an attorney who carpooled from Walnut Creek to her San Francisco office with a group of coworkers Monday. "It feels like nothing is getting done while we're all suffering."

Raya Walker, 33, of Concord met a coworker at the Walnut Creek station at 5 a.m. They left work early at 2:30 p.m. to beat the traffic back; it took them about an hour and fifteen minutes.

"I'm just hoping that it only lasts two or three days. Fine, we can sacrifice a few days for them to get what they want," Walker said.

Business groups said the strike is costing Bay Area companies $73 million a day in lost worker productivity from employees sitting in traffic. Transportation officials began spending $20 million in BART taxpayer funds to beef up transit service, staff traffic centers and deploy extra California Highway Patrol cruisers. Politicians, including Gov. Jerry Brown, urged both sides to reach a deal.

But it was commuters -- mainly the 200,000 people who ride BART daily -- who faced the rockiest day.

What are both sides fighting over?

BART employees -- including management and nonunion workers -- earn an average of about $83,000 annually in gross pay, contribute nothing toward their retirement and $92 monthly to health insurance. Their pay and total compensation are both the highest in the Bay Area among transit agencies.

BART has offered an 8 percent pay hike over four years and wants workers to pay more toward their medical and pension benefits. The local Service Employees International Union and Amalgamated Transit Union, which represent more than 2,300 train operators, maintenance employees and other blue-collar workers, are looking for a 23 percent pay bump.

Some commuters stood by the unions. But most BART riders interviewed around the Bay Area on Monday had little sympathy for them.

"Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of sympathy for the strikers," said Concord resident Percy Madamba, 60, a paralegal. "I just hope they work it out sooner rather than later so the Bay Area can get back to normal."

BART -- which is subsidized by taxpayers, like all U.S. transit agencies -- loses about $1.2 million in revenue each day it shuts service but saves about $1.6 million in daily operating costs.

Union leaders held rallies around the Bay Area and picketed stations all day in an attempt to boost support for their cause.

"We are the working class; we support the working class. We bring them to work every day," said train operator Tina Santillan, 35, of Daly City. "But the BART board doesn't care about the working-class folks because they've left them out on the freeway."

They blamed BART management for letting train service idle.

"If they don't contact us, we can't sit down and negotiate, and that would mean we would continue to be on strike," said Antonette Bryant, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555. Asked how long the strike could go on, she said, "I have no idea; that's up to BART."

BART spokesman Rick Rice, in turn, said management is also waiting for the other side to submit a new proposal.

"We do feel this is unfair to our riders and hope to get it resolved quickly," Rice said.

However, AC Transit -- the main source of backup rides for displaced BART passengers -- reported progress in its labor talks and rolled out its buses without any immediate plans to strike. The East Bay bus line's union contract also expired late Sunday, and workers had previously threatened to strike.

AC Transit, Caltrain, ferries and San Francisco Muni all saw boosts in rider counts Monday BART also chartered special commute-time buses, and officials announced Monday evening that they were doubling the number of buses -- from 18 to 36 -- that would take passengers between the West Oakland station and San Francisco's Transbay Terminal on Tuesday.

Taxi and ride-sharing services also surged, with Sidecar reporting a 40 percent growth in use during the morning commute. Other enterprising companies used the publicity opportunity to promote office-sharing locations, telecommuting services and even contests to win free helicopter rides over the bay.

BART, which had been operating under record ridership during the past year, had its busiest Sunday ever just before service shut down as revelers flocked to the gay pride parade in San Francisco. Trains were set to again begin accepting bikes on board all trains outside of rush hour Monday, though the strike set back that initiative, too.

Staff writers Denis Cuff, Lisa P. White, Mark Gomez, Peter Hegarty, Theresa Harrington, Aaron Kinney, Kathleen Kirkwood, Brittny Mejia, Joshua Melvin, Eve Mitchell, Karl Mondon, Doug Oakley, Matt O'Brien, Thomas, Peele, Josh Richman, Heather Somerville and Jeremy Thomas contributed to this report. Contact Mike Rosenberg at 408-920-5705. Follow him at twitter.com/RosenbergMerc.